Eating disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine: an overview of risks and recommendations for treatment and early intervention

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Individuals With Eating Disorders: the Role of Emotion Regulation and Exploration of Online Treatment Experiences

“…Our participants spoke about increased distress in relation to wide-ranging emotions in the context of the pandemic, including anxieties about becoming unwell or loss of work, stress with changes to living environments, and low mood relating to a loss of structure and purpose. Emotional support from others had been interpreted as a key theme around coping with emotions during the pandemic, but in accordance with concerns raised by clinical researchers (18), many participants mentioned that they had less access to their usual social networks and activities. Worryingly, maladaptive and avoidant strategies, such as ED behaviours, alcohol use, self-medicating and self-harm were common responses to di cult emotions in the pandemic, as in previous reports (11).…”

“…Indeed, within the same samples, substance abuse, self-injury and suicidal feelings were reported by some participants (11)(12)(13). Some theorists suggest that eating disordered behaviours arise due to maladaptive emotion regulation strategies (23,26), and the pandemic both increases the likelihood that these maladaptive regulation strategies will be deployed whilst simultaneously barring access to strategies which might have previously helped (18). As such, the question arises as to which emotion regulation strategies have been used during the pandemic and whether some are associated with less exacerbation of ED behaviours.…”

“…Concerns have been raised about people with pathological perfectionism in the context of the vanishing divide between work and home, the tendency for stressful situations to increase the drive to achieve mastery, and the di culty of these individuals to adjust self-standards despite exceptional circumstances (49). These concerns have also been raised in the context of EDs (18), where additional risks around "self-improvement" messages lie in the social reinforcement of thin idealisation, diet and exercise. In so far as participants with AN and with OSFED appeared more affected by triggering social media in the quantitative data, it is interesting that some studies suggest perfectionism is associated less with bingeing than with other types of eating pathology, such as restriction and purging (50)(51)(52).…”

Eating Disorders During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…This is because individuals are afraid of contracting COVID-19 so that eventually they experience increased concern about the quality of food and its ability to become a vehicle of transmission or contangion (Rodgers et al, 2020). Furthermore, stressful life events, anxiety, social isolation & declining social support, and trauma and abuse are broader ED risk factors in addition to specific risk factors including food access, media and media messages, limitations in exercise, and limited access to healthcare (Cooper et al, 2020).…”

“…Treatment of individuals with ED may be difficult during the pandemic, this is due to the depletion of health service resources due to the risk of contracting COVID-19 (if they are physically in a medical environment) and due to COVID-19 treatment, so that in the end the telehealth check-up becomes an alternative approach even though the method has limited capacity in monitoring weight changes, vital signs, and other important physiological assessments (Cooper et al, 2020). Some simple suggestions for the general population that can be applied in order to reduce the risk of developing mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) reducing sources of stress, by limiting the amount of time to find new information and always rely in official sources instead of uncontrolled sources (2) break the isolation, which can be done by video call or group call to improve communication with family, friends or loved ones;…”