National Eating Disorder Hotline:
Tel: 800-931-2237
Treatment
Options
It is possible to fully recover from an eating disorder. Although there is no fixed treatment for eating disorders, there are different options to help manage and recover using a variety of techniques. If an eating disorder is caught early on or treated promptly, a patient can mostly expect to make a full recovery. You can complete a treatment program and not be recovered or only partially recovered. Depending on the type of disorder, treatment will vary. Treatments help start recovery from an eating disorder, but there is no one treatment that is a cure-all. ​The purpose of a treatment program is to get people to a certain place where they are recovered or nearly recovered. This includes being able to or nearly able to eat comfortably in any setting, able to eat all foods in moderation, no longer restricting foods, able to move their bodies in a fun way, no fear of weight gain, no fear of any food, and knows that their weight will change and is comfortable with change. Everyone’s journey to recovery is different.
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Therapy
Psychotherapy
The psychological treatment of mental illness.
Talk therapy is speaking to a therapist as the primary way of expressing and resolving issues from the past and present.
Behavioral therapy focuses on the most current problems and how to change them.
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Family Therapy
Family therapy is extremely important for families with children struggling with this disorder because it enlists families to help ensure healthy eating patterns. Adolescents with eating disorders are unable to make excellent choices concerning their health, so they need family support . Family therapy also increases awareness to help prevent more adolescents in the family from developing an eating disorder.
Therapy
Medications and Dietary Needs
Medication
Antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs help control underlying issues that could be a contributor to a disorder.
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Nutritional Counseling
Nutritional counseling includes seeing a nutritionist who is extremely instrumental to patients with eating disorders. Their role is to provide patients with dietary advice and nutritional monitoring to aide in their recovery.
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Weight Restoration Monitoring
This is the most challenging, rigorous, if not necessary process to recover from Anorexia Nervosa.
It includes having to gain a certain amount of weight throughout a strict period of time, but often has to be gone through twice because relapse is prevalent.