When Eating Disorders Meet Anxiety, OCD, or Depression: Co-Occurring Challenges & Recovery Strategies

When eating disorders overlap with anxiety, OCD, or depression, recovery can feel especially complex. In this episode of Dr. Marianne-Land: An Eating Disorder Recovery Podcast, Dr. Marianne Miller, LMFT, explores how co-occurring mental health conditions interact with disordered eating and body image struggles. She explains how anxiety often fuels food rules and avoidance, how OCD rituals can merge with eating rituals, and how depression can make nourishment feel almost impossible.

Throughout the episode, Dr. Marianne shares intersectional case examples that reflect the diversity of real-world experiences. You will hear about a Black nonbinary person whose anorexia and depression are dismissed by medical providers, a South Asian immigrant coping with OCD and bulimia in a culture where discussing mental health is taboo, and others whose experiences reveal how systemic bias and identity shape recovery. This episode offers understanding, compassion, and realistic tools for healing when multiple conditions overlap.

What You’ll Learn

You will learn how anxiety, OCD, and depression intersect with eating disorders, why eating disorders rarely exist alone, and how each condition influences the recovery process. Dr. Marianne explains why addressing only food behaviors is not enough and how integrative treatment supports both the mind and body. You will also hear about sensory-attuned strategies and community-based care that help people move toward safety, nourishment, and autonomy.

Key Takeaways

Eating disorders often coexist with anxiety, OCD, or depression because they share common roots in trauma, nervous system overwhelm, and attempts to create safety. Anxiety drives control and rigidity, OCD fuels compulsive rituals around food and body, and depression slows motivation and energy, making self-care harder. True recovery acknowledges these overlaps and treats the whole person.

Healing does not mean erasing anxiety, OCD, or depression. It means building a life that includes these realities while reducing their control over food and self-worth. Recovery becomes more sustainable when treatment honors a person’s full identity, including body size, race, gender, and neurotype.

Who This Episode Is For

This episode is for anyone who lives with an eating disorder and another mental health condition such as anxiety, OCD, or depression. It is also for clinicians, family members, and supporters who want to understand how co-occurring challenges interact and how to provide compassionate care.

Content Caution

This episode includes discussion of eating disorders, anxiety, OCD, and depression. Please take care while listening and pause if you need to.

Related Episodes

• Anxiety, Meltdowns, Neurodiversity, & Eating Disorders on Apple & Spotify.
• Food, Fear, & Fixation: How OCD Shapes Eating Disorders on Apple & Spotify.
• Depression & Eating Disorders on Apple & Spotify.

Connect and Learn More

For deeper guidance, visit drmariannemiller.com/arfid to explore Dr. Marianne’s ARFID and Selective Eating Course. The course offers neurodivergent-affirming, sensory-attuned strategies that apply to a wide range of eating struggles.

To learn about Dr. Marianne’s therapy services in California, Texas, and Washington, D.C., or to explore additional blog posts and podcast episodes, visit drmariannemiller.com.