Treatments and Therapy for Eating Disorders

         

          Trying to tell someone with an eating disorder they need help can be a sensitive subject and they might not take that suggestion well. Depending on the level or type of eating disorder the person has can determine what treatment would be best for the person. As the outside person, its best to understand the good and the bad, to better understand the different types of treatments because the insurance benefits are tied to both the diagnosis and the type of treatment settings to better help the person in need. (Types of Treatments, 2018)

          The different kind of treatments can determine if a higher level of care is needed or deemed necessary for the person. (Eating Disorder Hope) An outpatient eating disorder treatment is the least level of care, most men and women in the program usually see a nutritionist and a therapist about two to three times a week. Since this is the lowest level of care/treatment it is useful to people that still have to go to work and school. (Eating Disorder Hope) Residential treatment is a more severe treatment, it provides a 24-hour live in facility with a medical supervision to monitor the patient’s health conditions. Being at a more higher-level treatment center helps those focus more on their physical and psychological healing.

          Therapy is another option most people go to get treatment with an eating disorder, since this disorder is also a mental illness as well. Talking to someone or going to a group support group can help better your mind. Group therapy helps by reducing the shame and isolation that associate with this illness. (About Eating Disorders) Talking to people with the same illness as you make you feel more support because those people know what you are going through mentally and physically. There are other types of therapy such as art therapy, dance movement therapy, family therapy and a lot more others. Art therapy is a creative way to help ease the persons mind and help them illustrate stories, thoughts or their feels with painting, clay making, drawing etc. (Types of Treatments, 2018) Dance therapy can help with healing with movements and expressions, to take the ease off your mind and body.

          Any kind of treatment or therapy can help a person that has an eating disorder, approaching them and talking about getting help can be a sensitive subject. Whether they accept the help or not, just talking to them one on one does help. They will realize the way they are living isn’t healthy and could lead to some health conditions later or worst, costing them their lives.   

          Here is a link to another blog that talks about eating disorder treatments, towards the bottom of the blog are different Hotline numbers for those wanting to talk the step to get help. Eating Disorder Hotline. Here is a video about two girls that have been to treatment for eating disorders. They talk about their experiences at the outpatient facility, the process they go through on the daily being there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuwNDhR2WKk

Citations:

“About Eating Disorders and Treatment.” McCallum Place,

www.mccallumplace.com/types-of-eating-disorder-therapy/. October 8, 2018

“Eating Disorder Treatment and Eating Disorder Therapies.” Eating Disorder Hope, www.eatingdisorderhope.com/treatment-for-eating-disorders/types-of-treatments. October 8, 2018

“Types of Treatment.” National Eating Disorders Association, 18 June 2018, www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/types-treatment. October 8, 2018

Different Eating Disorders and their Symptoms

          Most people commonly know of one or two common eating disorders, which are Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervous. Another is Binge eating disorder, which is when you spend a weekend binge watching your favorite show on Netflix. Instead of watching shows or movies all day, you’re eating a lot more than usual and not controlling how much you are eating. (Bhandari, 2017)

         

          Anorexia eating disorder is the most common and well known to people that know very little information about the disorder. A person with anorexia tend to have the fear of gaining weight, but they don’t want to try to maintain a healthy weight either. (Ekern, 2018) They would basically be underweight and that could lead to health conditions, besides having the eating disorder. When I had thought of the consequences of a person having anorexia, I had just thought they would become very ill from not eating on a daily basics. Or not getting the vitamins and nutrients that we as humans need every day. Without eating regularly could result in serious health damages, like brain damage, muti-organ failure, bone loss, heart difficulties, infertility and for high risk people could die from this disease. (Ekern, 2018)

         

          Another common eating disorder is Bulimia, just like anorexia it could be a life threatening disorder. Some people might think that bulimia is the same as anorexia but no, because with this disorder the person is pretty much binge eating secretly. Once they eat a large amount and not control the amounts of food they’re in taking, they soon realize it and try to get rid of all those extra calories in a very unhealthy way. (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2010) To me it seems like bulimia is the next step up from a person having anorexia, which seems a more sever disease. Some of the symptoms could be living in fear of gaining weight, loss of control when binge eating, forcing yourself to vomit or over exercising to not gain weight after eating. (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2010) Having bulimia really does effect a person by how many times they purge after obsessively eating, which is at least once a week for three months.

         

          Pica is an uncommon eating disorder that people don’t know much about it or nothing at all, people with this disorder eating items/things that don’t have any health or no nutritional value to their bodies. This type of disorder is most likely occurs with children and pregnant women, also in people with intellectual disabilities. (Holm & Krucik, 2016) Pica isn’t a long term disorder like anorexia or bulimia, it’s more of a temporary disease. Some people could have a tendency have trouble with their iron and zinc levels or any other kind of low level nutrients the person has. Dieting can also lead to having pica, when a person feels hungry they gravitate to eating nonfood items that could be harmful to the body, but it tends to help them feel full.(Holm & Krucik, 2016) When eating nonfood things it can obviously lead to some serious conditions like poisoning (lead), parasitic infections, intestinal blood blockage and chocking.

Citation:

Bhandari, Simatha. “Signs of an Eating Disorder.” WebMD, WebMD, 17 Aug. 2017, www.webmd.com/mental-health/eating-disorders/signs-of-eating-disorders. October 1, 2018

 Ekern, Jacquelyn. “Eating Disorders: Symptoms, Signs, Causes & Articles For Treatment Help.” Eating Disorder Hope, EatingDisorderHope.com, 11 July 2018, www.eatingdisorderhope.com/information/eating-disorder#Signs-amp-Symptoms-of-an-Eating-Disorder. October 1, 2018

May Clinic Staff. “Bulimia Nervosa.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 10 May 2018. www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/bulimia/symptoms-causes/syc-20353615. October 3, 2018

Holm, Gretchen, and George Krucik. “What Causes Pica?” Healthline, 29 Feb. 2016, www.healthline.com/symptom/pica. October 3, 2018

Unclear of an Eating Disorder.

          Most people mistaken an eating disorder as a bad eating habit or a person having trouble with how their body looks. When someone mentions that they aren’t happy with their own appearance based on what others say, it can affect or trigger a person to starve themselves and start to have an eating disorder. Eating Disorders are illnesses that can cause severe disturbance to the person’s eating behavior. (Nimh.nih.gov, 2016) If you have a loved one or just know of someone that could have an eating disorder, they could be feeling a combination of things that researchers and doctors had discovered to lead up to an eating disorder. The combination of biological, behavior and some social factors that the person is dealing with. (Kam and Boards, n.d.)

          How does an eating disorder start or what causes a person to have one? Some researchers had theories that it could come from parents being too strict or too controlling, or from a person wanting to be thin or skinny. (Farrar and Baker, 2014). People who have an eating disorder have a mental illness, it’s not just a condition they have. Has it ever crossed your mind that an eating disorder could be in your family genetics? Researchers are trying to identify the DNA variations that link the risk of eating disorders that develop in families with one, two or multiple people with this disorder. (Nimh.nih.gov, 2016)

          Eating disorders can happen with children and teens but most parents don’t always recognize it. We all know that children are always picky with the food they eat. Children who have this illness change in their eating habits drastically and it could lead to a serious, or even a life-threatening health problem. (Kam and Boards, n.d.) Just like women this disorder happens with men as well, but at a higher rate by 10 million. Some researchers are still figuring out what the main cause is, but several factors can cause an eating disorder. Here is a link to a video as well to example more about what an eating disorder is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=31&v=LhCntzXAcA4

Citations:

          Kam, K. and Boards (n.d.). Eating Disorders in Children and Teens.

 https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/eating-disorders/features/eating-disorders-children-teens#1 . Accessed 25 Sep. 2018

         Nimh.nih.gov. (2016). NIMH » Eating Disorders.

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/eating-disorders/index.shtml#part_145410 . Accessed 25 Sep. 2018

          Farrar, T. and Baker, J. (2014). Causes of Eating Disorders ........What We Know For Sure.

https://www.mirror-mirror.org/causes-of-eating-disorders.htm . Accessed 25 Sep. 2018

          National Eating Disorders Association. “Eating Disorders: What are They?” YouTube. 3 Aug. 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=31&v=LhCntzXAcA4