Eating disorders are complex and serious mental and physical illnesses, not lifestyle choices, but they are treatable. The treatment often involves an approach tailored to individual needs, integrating medical care, nutritional counseling, and various forms of psychotherapy.
Finding the right type of eating disorder treatment usually depends on the symptoms. By understanding symptoms, types, and treatment, individuals can take the first steps toward lasting recovery and regain their well-being. In this article, we will explain everything about eating disorders and their treatment.
What are Eating Disorders
Eating disorders are mental health conditions along with disturbances in eating behaviors, including stressful thoughts and emotions. Eating disorders often occur with other psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety or OCD.
Eating disorders can be very serious, affecting physical and social functioning. It is most common in young adults, and with proper treatment, people easily recover from an eating disorder.
Symptoms of Eating Disorders
In an eating disorder, a person has an unhealthy relationship with food, such as eating too much or too little, or worrying about their weight. The following are symptoms, including physical signs:
- Spending a lot of time worrying about your weight
- Not socializing when you think food will be involved
- Eating very little food
- Exercising too much
- Having very strict food habits
- Eating a lot in a short amount of time
- Hiding food
- Mood swings
- Fatigue, fainting, or feeling faint
- Hair loss or hair thinning
- Unusual sweating
- Overweight or underweight
Types of Eating Disorders
Common types of eating disorders are:
Binge-eating: In this, people consume a large amount of food. People with binge-eating disorder keep eating even after they are full. They often eat until they feel very uncomfortable. Afterward, they usually have feelings of guilt, shame, and distress.
Anorexia Nervosa: In this type, people avoid food or eat a small amount of food. They have an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even if they are underweight. This type is less common but is serious and has a high mortality rate.
Bulimia Nervosa: In this type, people face periods of binge-eating and feeling shame afterwards. They either throw up or do exercise after binge-eating. People with bulimia nervosa may be slightly underweight, normal weight, or overweight.
Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder: It involves a disturbance in eating patterns resulting in persistent failure to meet nutritional needs and extreme picky eating. It can be due to low appetite or lack of interest in eating food.
Treatment for Eating Disorders
There are various levels of care when talking about eating disorder treatment. The following are the treatments for eating disorders:
Inpatient Eating Disorder Treatment
Inpatient eating disorder treatment is a hospital-based treatment, and the patient receives intensive care the whole time. With the hospital team’s supervision and patient support, the recovery is fast. The stay of the patient depends on the needs of the patient and can last from weeks to months.
Outpatient Eating Disorder Treatment
It is designed to assist clients with their emotional concerns as well as offer guidance with eating disorder behaviors. Patient receives medical care at home and meets with an outpatient dietitian once a week.
Therapeutic Approaches
It involves individual or family psychotherapy. Individual therapy includes cognitive behavioral therapy that helps to manage negative thoughts. Other therapies are dialectical behavior therapy, radically open dialectical behavior therapy, and acceptance and commitment therapy.
