Therapies for Eating Disorders

The eating disorders refer to adopting certain eating behavior or diet methods which are abnormal and deviant. These behavior patterns subscribe intentional starvation or the ingestion of exaggerated quantities of food. People affected by these disorders think excessively about food, weight, body aspect. These persons can have a normal weight, or they can be under or way above the normal weight.

Binge Eating Disorder

Many people feel sometimes that they had eaten more than they needed, but those suffering of binge eating disorder frequently eat excessive quantities of food. Such a compulsive episode is then followed by the feeling of losing control, feelings of shame, disgust, depression and guilt. Data obtained until the present time show that the most efficient therapies for this disorder are the cognitive behavioral and the interpersonal therapies.

Bulimia Nervosa

Bulimia nervosa has frequent episodes of compulsive eating, eventually generating the same feelings of guilt and shame. The difference is the fact that these episodes are doubled by the effort of counteracting the effect of this compulsive eating. Such efforts include vomit, starvation, intensive physical exercises and usage of some medication, such as laxatives. There are proofs that in the present, the most efficient treatment for the Bulimia nervosa is the cognitive behavioral therapy. There is also data suggesting that the interpersonal therapy is also efficient. The cognitive behavioral therapy goes from a model that emphasizes the importance of both cognitive and behavioral factors in the maintenance of this disorder. The treatment aims to eliminate the compulsive eating behavior and the counteracting effect and also to go back to the normal eating patterns. Besides these, other goals of the treatment is to correct the dysfunctional thoughts and emotions referring to the personal significance correlated to the physical appearance and to limit the perfectionism and the dichotomous way of thinking.

The interpersonal therapy is a short of non-interpretative and non-directive therapy centered on the interpersonal context. This therapy has the main goal to help the patient identify and then modify the current interpersonal problems.

Furthermore, obesity is considered to be present when the individuals has more than 20% over the normal weight recommended for that certain height. Nowadays it is generally known and admitted that obesity represents a great danger for the physical health. Statistical data show that more and more persons from the United States are suffering from this illness. The behavioral therapy is the main treatment used for those with obesity for both adults and children. There is also some data suggesting that the combination between behavioral therapy and hypnosis also has positive effects in treating obesity.

These disorders might have multiple causes, such as genetic problems, but at least for the first two disorders presented above, a dysfunctional way of thinking generated both emotional and eating problems.

Binge eating disorder and Bulimia nervosa are mostly encountered in women. The new trend promoted by Hollywood inspires women to be thin, suggesting that only slim persons are considered to be beautiful. So they tend to think in terms of "demanding criteria" ("I must be thin and beautiful"), self-downing ("if people don't see me beautiful I must be ugly and without value") and "awful criteria" ("if I'm not 90-60-90 it will be terrible, so I must exercise a lot"). The cognitive behavioral therapies are meant to change this dysfunctional way of thinking which will eventually generate dysfunctional emotions such as guilt or shame.

In conclusion, eating disorders refer to abnormal patterns of eating which lead in the end to serious health problems. Overweighed people are predisposed to coronary problems, brain ischemia, kidney failure while those having a lower weight than normal can develop anemia and many other illnesses related to all kinds of vitamin lacks. On the other hand, these disorders can also lead to a very low self-esteem, to isolation and interpersonal issues. This is why it is so important to consult both a doctor and a psychologist.