Managing life with depression is tough, but it’s the reality that thousands of people have to deal with in their daily lives. It becomes even more of a complicated mess when you bring eating disorders into the mix, which have the potential to manifest or intensify mood disorders. 

If that all sounds like a bundle of unwanted stress you wish to stay sixty miles away from, you won’t be too happy to learn that nearly fifty percent of individuals who struggle with eating disorders must balance them with symptoms of depressive disorders. 

So, what can you do when you’re being confronted with challenges from multiple directions and feel as though there is nowhere left you can turn to escape the onslaught? Here are some key points we will be addressing that will help you find an answer to this question:

• Mood disorders and eating disorders act to influence one another, so they can often be misdiagnosed
• Secondary depressive symptoms will resolve with treatment of the eating disorder 
• In cases of clinical major depression, antidepressants should be administered for effective treatment

Are Eating Disorders Connected With Depression?

Mood disorders tend to coexist with eating disorders, though the effects of each specific diagnosis are not the same for every individual. Disorders manifest in different ways depending on personal experiences and coping mechanisms, so assuming they can be generalized is a rash judgment. 

Since depression can influence eating disorders and vice versa, it can be challenging to accurately diagnose the disorders and symptoms often tend to overlap. Malnourishment can cause changes in the brain that affect your mood, and having low self esteem in regards to your body image can contribute to anxious or depressive moods.  

It is important to familiarize yourself with the various eating disorders out there and understand how they are different, along with how they may coincide with depression. Know that it is difficult to tell which disorder occurs first, as eating disorders and depression often feed into each other and interact in unhealthy ways.   

Anorexia 

Eating disorders can begin as harmless efforts to lose weight and gradually evolve into something dangerous. Anorexia nervosa is one of the most common eating disorders out there and reportedly 42% of those who have this eating disorder also experience morbid depression. 

The general feeling of dissatisfaction towards your body and low self-worth are two factors that serve as a strong link between anorexia and depression. If you have one disorder but not the other, these feelings can eventually lead to developing the secondary disorder. 

Left untreated, one disorder can perpetuate the other disorder and contribute to all kinds of mental and physical hurdles. It is extremely important that you do not let these disorders feed into each other since their combination can have very adverse effects on your well being. 

Bulimia

Around 70% of individuals diagnosed with bulimia nervosa are given a depression diagnosis alongside the eating disorder, which beats out the percentage of overlap between anorexia nervosa and depression by a significant margin. 

Purging behaviors can influence the onset of depressive symptoms and can contribute to the inability to regulate emotions appropriately. A lot of similarities exist between symptoms of bulimia and depression since they share many emotional and cognitive traits, which includes increased isolation, lack of control, feelings of worthlessness, and inadequacy. 

Binge Eating

The overlap between depression and binge eating is high, as is the case with other eating disorders. Feelings of worthlessness and inadequacy fester in those who suffer from binge eating, which in turn can contribute to the cycle of disordered eating. Oftentimes, individuals who partake in binge eating do so to cope with poor emotional regulation. 

What Kind of Depression? 

Why Distinguishing Clinical And Secondary Depression Matters

When dealing with eating disorders, you will often find depression as a secondary symptom. Sometimes doctors and therapists will focus on the symptoms of depression rather than give primary care to the eating disorder, which produces ineffective results since the underlying cause is not being prioritized. Try to avoid situations like this, as they will do nothing for your mental health except negatively impact it. 

If you hope to receive optimal intervention in regards to your symptoms, then you need to know their actual cause. Treating symptoms of depression will not generate substantial developments in terms of mental health since the actual issue - the eating disorder - is ignored in favor of the other.   

Signs Clinical Depression Coexists With Your Eating Disorder

• Having a personal history of depression that began before the onset of an eating disorder
• Neglecting aspects of your life and dwelling on how pointless being alive is
• Late manifestation of an eating disorder
• Depressive symptoms have intensified as a result of consistent disordered eating

If you have reason to believe your depressive symptoms go deeper than being byproducts of an underlying eating disorder, then you need to take serious steps to obtain proper treatment. Antidepressants are tools to help you manage your major depression and function better in your daily life, but they will only prove to be effective when you actually have a depressive disorder that exists beyond the identity of being a secondary symptom of your eating disorder.