Eating Disorders and Substance Abuse

Abstract

Recently, there has been a growing awareness of the relationship between eating disorders and substance abuse. This area is of interest to clinicians not only for their involvement in the etiology of cocaine abuse but also for the challenges it presents in the successful diagnosis and treatment of addiction. The well-known denial associated with use of a single drug may be complicated by the patient’s reluctance to admit an eating disorder, as well as the reluctance of patients with eating disorders to admit to drug use. This reluctance may stem from ignorance (for example, patients may not realize how their eating disorder affects their cocaine consumption). Or the patient—having one form of substance abuse detected—may “sacrifice” this substance so that other forms of substance abuse or eating disorder can continue. Furthermore, clinicians, having identified one abused substance, may not press to uncover other abused substances. These clinicians may believe that correcting one problem is difficult enough without the added burden of another. As a result, the association between eating disorders and substance abuse, specifically cocaine, deserves greater attention.