A few days ago, the United States celebrated Thanksgiving. I know my family, friends, and I celebrated Thanksgiving. We usually treat the holiday as an opportunity to eat A LOT. Is this healthy? Probably not, but I know that we weren’t alone.

For some people, all this focus on eating isn’t just confined to holidays. They focus on food, their weight, and their body issues all year long. This focus can even become an obsession that can control their lives—and even end their lives.

Eating disorders are very common. They include people not eating enough, eating too much, or eating too much and intentionally vomiting their food. People with eating disorders are obsessed with the way they look and will do anything in an effort to try to shape their body image. Along with their disordered eating habits, people with eating disorders might exercise too much. They might also take dangerous amounts of diet pills, become addicted to drugs, or become addicted to alcohol.

The combination of substance use disorder and an eating disorder are distressingly common. In fact, doctors make a dual diagnosis if their patients suffer from eating issues and substance use disorder at the same time.

It can be tricky to treat a dual diagnosis. These patients are struggling with not one, but two, complex conditions that affect the brain and body. Medical professionals often find it difficult to treat just one of these conditions.

But tricky doesn’t mean impossible. Medicine, psychology, pharmacology, and other fields are making great strides in understanding what eating disorders and substance use disorder are. Just as importantly, professionals in these fields are making great advances in treating such conditions.

We’re also making strides in how we view eating disorders, drug addiction, and alcohol abuse. We know now that these conditions aren’t moral failings. They aren’t temporary conditions that a person will outgrow. They’re illnesses. Fortunately, they’re also illnesses we can treat.