 Getting Help: The Sooner the Better
The one piece of “good news” related to eating disorders is that with effective treatment they can be managed, and former disordered eaters can pursue healthy lives while maintaining an appropriate weight. But because of the cumulative effect that self-starvation, binging, and purging can have on a body, the efficacy of any treatment plan can be diminished by waiting too long to get professional help.
Treatment Strategies
Most attempts to treat anorexia nervosa consist of the following three components:
- Restoring the patient to an appropriate healthy weight.
- Addressing emotional/psychological conditions that may have caused or exacerbated the eating disorder.
- Rehabilitating the patient and preparing for long-term recovery
Especially in cases of severe weight loss, the first step in this process is often undertaken in a hospital or residential facility, where the patient’s diet and behavior can be highly structured and closely monitored. Residential care also allows health care professionals to treat medical issues that may have resulted from continued self-starvation.
Among the conditions that would suggest the need for hospitalization or residential care are the aforementioned severe weight loss, extreme bingeing and purging, dramatic metabolic disturbances, psychosis, and high risk of suicide.
Once the disordered eater’s weight begins to improve, treatment staff can then begin to address issues such as poor self-image, negative self-esteem, and the distorted thought pattern that prompted the development of the eating disorder. Psychotherapy is a common and effective technique during this phase, and family involvement is often encouraged.
To reduce or eliminate the likelihood that a patient will return to previous unhealthy eating behaviors, many treatment plans involve nutrition education, psychosocial intervention, and instruction in the proper use of appropriate medications. Depending upon the nature of each eating disorder patient, individual, group, family, and marital therapy sessions may be advised, and psychotropic medications (particularly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) have proved to be beneficial.
Because many people with eating disorders fail to recognize that their behavior is unhealthy, resistance to treatment is far from uncommon – and continued emotional support may be the crucial component of successful, relapse-free recovery. |
