How to Deal with Eating Disorder in Your Workplace

Eating Disorders in Workplaces can affect anyone, even adults in the workforce. But you might find it difficult to identify whether one of your employees suffers from such problems.

If left undiagnosed or untreated, eating problems can cause serious health complications and can affect someone’s job performance. Fortunately, treatments like Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) help individuals overcome bulimia and other eating disorders. DBT teaches individuals new skills to manage negative emotions and reduce conflicts in relationships.

Now, the question is: how can you address eating disorders in your office?

Understand Their Condition

A good starting point would be to educate yourself. Eating disorders are serious problems associated with eating behaviors that have adversely affect someone’s health, emotions, and ability to function in daily life activities.

Eating problems usually occur when a person worries too much about body shape and weight because of social pressures. In America, a significant number of people face the challenges of these disorders.

The most common types of eating problems are bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, and anorexia nervosa. Bulimia refers to consuming a huge amount of food followed by purging through forced vomiting.

Unlike people with bulimia, those who have anorexia tend to ignore food or only consume small servings of certain meals. They perceive themselves as overweight even if they are alarmingly underweight.

Watch Out for the Signs

Although it’s not easy to identify someone with eating disorders, there are signs to pay attention to allowing you to help an employee or coworker.

Individuals who have problematic eating habits are commonly obsessed with food, appearance, weight, and dieting. They admire thin people and feel envious of their thinness. This attitude may result in excessive weight loss.

Additionally, these people also try to avoid corporate events that involve food. You can observe that they withdraw from their co-workers and routine tasks.

In some cases, you may also notice evidence of binge eating. Others, on the other hand, head to the bathroom after eating to purge. They might also have scarred knuckles because of forced vomiting.

Talk About the Problem

If you have employees showing warning signs of an eating disorder and their performance starts to decline, try to have a discussion about it in a private meeting. Remember though not to make assumptions solely based on their appearance and to respect the individual’s right to confidentiality. You may also wish to bring in the human resources department to the conversation.

It’s essential to promote awareness and educate everyone in your workplace about eating disorders. A concerned and inclusive workplace allows for efficiency and productivity.

These illnesses can be life-threatening. So it’s crucial to pay attention to unusual behaviors that your employees show toward eating. Our Westport, Connecticut center offers comprehensive treatment plans designed to help individuals live free from eating disorders. We combine DBT with mindfulness-based psychotherapies and relaxation techniques.

We practice a variety of techniques that can help patients to heal in a safe and comfortable environment and achieve long-term recovery.

Contact us today to know more about our strategies of eating Disorders in Workplaces.