If you’ve experienced trauma – you could be at risk for an eating disorder

This episode will go live on Wednesday 7 February.

We should let you know that this episode discusses sexual abuse and comes with a trigger warning. It’s about trauma, which is an individual’s response to an event or series of events that have deeply disturbed their sense of safety, security, or well-being.

While research shows a clear intersection between trauma or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and eating disorders, too few health professionals include trauma therapy into their practice. Why? They’re concerned that by opening the “trauma box” there’ll be a worsening of symptoms or relapse.

The problem is that this assumption is wrong. It’s true that not all people with eating disorders have experienced trauma, but clinicians need to be trauma informed to support their clients in understanding and addressing what they may have lived through. This is because appropriate discovery with appropriate care will have a positive impact on their eating behaviours.

Listen to leading clinicians and people with lived experience of both trauma and eating disorders discuss this difficult but important topic, with useful insights about what can help.