Eating is a behaviour that is controlled by many different factors that include appetite, the availability of food, social practices, and attempts at consciously controlling it.  These attempts to control your eating are often as a result of a desire for the leaner body weight that is promoted
by fashion trends and media marketing.  An Eating Disorder involves a pattern of eating that creates negative consequences for the victim.  It leaves victims feeling distressed and wracked with guilt and shame.

Where eating is usually under our voluntary control it somehow slips out of the control and becomes a problem.  Studies are underway to try and establish the mechanism that leads people to losing control of their eating and developing an Eating Disorder.  The biological functions that lead to appetite are very complicated, especially when metabolism becomes altered through periods of overeating or starvation.  The hope is that if we are able to understand the physiology of eating we will be able to create a pharmaceutical treatment for Eating Disorders.  As yet this is out of our reach and traditional psychotherapeutic models remain the most effective treatments available.

Eating Disorder Treatment

Eating disorders are very much a product of factors outside of the control of the victim.  They don't represent a failing of willpower or some sort of moral deficiency, but are actually medical illnesses.  There is no reason to be ashamed of having an eating disorder, especially if this prevents you from asking for help in effectively treating it.  Some of the eating disorders that have been identified are as yet to be ratified as formal psychiatric diagnoses by the APA.  Binge-eating disorder is one example.

An eating disorder will usually develop in the late teens or early twenties, but it is not unknown for them to develop sooner or later than this period.  People with an eating disorder are also more likely to be diagnosed with a secondary psychiatric disorder such as depression, addiction, and anxiety disorders.  They can also lead to significant physical health concerns such as kidney failure and heart conditions.  Diagnosing and treating an eating disorder is very important as some of these conditions can result in permanent damage.

When an Eating Disorder Treatment is effective it will help the victim to return to a healthy weight and be free of the psychological issues that surrounded them.  The sooner an eating disorder is diagnosed the more likely it is that to achieve a positive clinical outcome.  It is essential to carefully plan a comprehensive treatment plan that will address the medical, psychosocial, and nutritional needs of the client.  In certain cases the attending doctors might need to decide if the person requires hospitalization before entering the psychotherapeutic phase of eating disorder treatment.

Anorexia Eating Disorder Treatment

Anorexia can be treated in a three phase approach that firstly restores the weight that was lost to severe dieting; secondly treats the psychological issues that underlie the eating disorder; and thirdly provides lifeskills and strategies to improve the long-term prognosis of the sufferer.  An early diagnosis will improve the success rate of eating disorder treatment.

Psychiatric medication can be used after the person with anorexia has established a healthy weight.  Certain selective serotonin reuptake inhibititors (SSRIs) that are better known for their anti-depressant qualities have been shown to be helpful for weight maintenance and to help with some of the mood disturbances that anorexia creates.

Helping an anorexic to regain their weight can be quite difficult because in the early phases of treatment the anorexic is often resistant to being treated.  Often this has to be performed in an inpatient hospital setting that offers close supervision and access to emergency medical services.  Intravenous feeding is sometimes used to help anorexics recover from malnutrition.  Once the patient has been cleared by doctors they are ready to join the psychotherapeutic eating disorder treatment program.  The therapeutic approaches used in eating disorder treatment are usually based on a cognitive-behavioural or interpersonal viewpoint and will vary slightly from center to center.  Family work is sometimes included as a component of eating disorder treatment.

Bulimia Eating Disorder Treatment

Bulimia treatment focuses on reducing or eliminating the cycle of binge eating and purging.  Bulimia eating disorder treatment uses the same basic elements as that used for anorexia, though will take a different approach.  A bulemia treatment program will enforce a strict routine of meals to help patients establish a pattern of eating regularly without feeling guilty.  Exercise will be limited as this is sometimes a method that some bulimics use to purge.  The psychotherapeutic aspect of bulimia eating disorder treatment will include group therapy, one-to-one therapy, and other forms of therapy.  Typically these therapies will be offered in the paradigm of either the cognitive-behavioural or interpersonal counseling approaches.

Denial is often a strong feature of a person suffering from an eating disorder.  It is often quite difficult to persuade somebody to enter treatment.  The consequences of leaving an eating disorder untreated can be very serious - if you would like information about finding an eating disorder treatment center near you, please contact us.