Anorexia Nervosa is a disorder which consumes the life of individuals who are diagnosed with it. Constantly being paranoid and watchful of food intake leads these people down a path which is hard to deviate from. In order to help patients who are diagnosed with this disorder, clinicians use various methods to try and create lasting positive effects. This paper will discuss these forms of treatment, analyzing what they are and their goals, while in a second part reflecting on myself and treatment in relation to my connection with the disorder. The goal of this paper is to give a detailed account of intervention, while using a humanistic perspective to understand the disorder at a clinical level. Both of these parts combine into an extensive look at anorexia nervosa’s effect on the individual level and how this disorder is effectively treated.
Available Treatments
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Two ways weight is restored is by forced feeding or behavioral weight-restoration method. After becoming a normal weight, clinicians will then move towards cognitive-behavioral therapy in order to help patients alter their thought processes about eating while recognizing their self-deprecation as false. The main goal of this therapy is to educate individuals so they can adopt a better lifestyle. Finally, one other treatment used is family therapy, where patients and their close family discuss ways to communicate better with one another and help parents be less unaware of how this disorder affects their child. When reflecting on myself and what I would pursue for treatment, I decided the best course of action would be family therapy or at least a large support group, as well as changing my inner monologue to be supportive despite failures in my life. In any case, having these aspects in my life would greatly improve my mental health, thus it would be assumed that this is the same feeling of a
There is a focus on helping patients to observe and label their emotional reactions to trauma, validation and acquiring a balance between acceptance and change. This is a fairly new type of approach which is being modified for the treatment of eating disorders. (Santucci, 2010) This form of therapy, according to the data is appropriate for any individual afflicted with this condition as well as many others, but currently does not have a depth of research behind it to prove it individually effective specifically for AN.
This article explored the topic of identifying symptoms in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN). The Eating Disorder Inventory led a study, conducted by D. Garner, that studied females with AN to classify behavior exclusive to the psychological disorder. The researchers recognized the problem of trying to identify any restrictive manners or detrimental behaviors that could identify a person with AN. The purpose of the research was to find tell-tale symptoms or psychological indicators of AN in patients.
In this paper, I will discuss how cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can be utilized in the management of eating disorders. More specifically I will identify Anorexia Nervosa and provide statistics that relate to the disease. Etiologies will be discussed as well as symptoms. Various techniques of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy will be described as well as the rationale as it relates to the clinical issue.
In addition to creating a collaborative relationship, the early stages of treatment focus on psychoeducation (Stein, 2001). The inclusion of education allows the individual to learn about the importance of proper nutrition and how restricting food intake affects the body. Once the client receives education, the therapist employs motivational interviewing to help the client evaluate the costs and benefits of his or her behavior (Stein, 2001). This then leads to challenging faulty cognitions and beliefs about body weight.
Anorexia nervosa is a debilitating disorder that affects the lives of many adolescents and can serious if not fatal consequences if not treated properly (Hurst & Zimmer-Gembeck, 2015; Wilson, Grilo, & Vitousek, 2007; Westwood & Kendal, 2012; Grave, Calugi, Ghoch, Conti & Fairburn, 2014). Two interventions that are often used in the treatment of AN are cognitive behavior therapy and family based treatment. Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and family based treatment (FBT) can either be used separately or in conjunction depending on the patient’s response and the degree of the disorder (Doyle, Le Grange, Loeb, Doyle, & Crosby, 2012; Lock et al., 2015; Madden et al., 2015). CBT aims to decease the symptoms of anorexia nervosa by changing the
Most of us have heard at least one story of an emaciated teen age girl who starves herself because she’s convinced she’s fat. But despite anorexia’s TV – talk show familiarity, misconceptions about it abound. As a result, many sufferers can often go moths or even years before someone notices that they’re sick and steers them toward help. Some teenage girls go through this kind of disorder at different times of their lives. This kind of illness brings about many changes – physically to emotional to psychological. The nature of the disease is such that an anorexic person can almost never bring herself to consciously acknowledge that she’s ill. This is why it’s important for family, friends
Anorexia nervosa is a harrowing mental illness for those affected by it. Those diagnosed with anorexia experience a relentless fear of weight gain and distorted body image, accompanied by disturbed patterns of eating in order to lose as much weight as possible. These individuals maintain a dangerously low body weight, which can lead to severe health complications. Due to the deadly nature of this mental illness, it is imperative to treat the affected individual as effectively as possible. There is a wide range of treatments available for anorexia, with no single treatment yet identified as the foremost option. Cognitive behavioral therapy is one treatment option that is recommended for patients suffering from anorexia. This method aims to
Treating eating disorders is based on a multimodal model, eating disorders don’t have any single cause or a predictable course, and they are treated on a case by case bases. Eating disorders usually begin with extreme dieting or restrained eating behaviors, and as dieting continues, starvation effects, weight loss, nutritional effects, and psychological changes occurs. In order to determine which treatment will be most effective is to determine the severity of the illness and the specific diagnosis. For instance when it comes to cases of anorexia nervosa the most common course of treatment includes; medical management, behavioral therapy, cognitive therapy and family therapy. These patients develop a false sense of security and effectiveness
Social media has caused for an increase the in the amount of eating disorders in the world. Anorexia Nervosa began as Anorexia Mirabilis or the miraculous gift of starvation sent from God. Women and girls would starve herself to show that they were saintlike. Sometimes they would even reach sainthood, just St. Catherine. After many girls died from foolishly trying to achieve sainthood, Anorexia Mirabilis was frowned upon and died down until the 1800s.
In America, girls are given the message at a very young age that in order to be happy and successful, they must be thin. Given the value which society places on being thin, it is not surprising that eating disorders are on the increase. Every time you walk into a store, you are surrounded by the images of emaciated models that appear on the covers of fashion magazines. Thousands of teenage girls are starving themselves daily in an effort to attain what the fashion industry considers to be the “ideal” figure. The average model weighs 23% less than the average woman. Maintaining a weight 20% below your expected body weight fits the criteria for the emotional eating disorder known as anorexia.
Anorexia is more than twice as common in female girls (Morris & Twaddle,2007). Anorexia Nervosa affects every one out of a 100 high school and college girls in the United States (Silverman,2005). Eighty to 90 percent of anorexia patients are females (Morris & Twaddle,2007). Teenage years are the worst for girls because between the ages of 12 to 18 as many as one in 250 girls may develop anorexia (Romeo,1984). Anorexia is most likely to develop when a girl is in middle school (Romeo,1984). What most girls do not know at this time is that their body is going through a growing stage during their teenage years and they need to be gaining weight not losing it. Magazines, advertising, and social media give girls an ideal body type and this causes eating disorders
Having an eating disorder during adolescence can result in negative impacts on the development throughout the lifespan. Eating disorders are complex illnesses that are increasing in adolescents and are being ranked as the third most common chronic illness in adolescents (Golden & Katzman & Kreipe & Stevens & Sawer & Rees & Nicholls & Rome, 2003). Such disorders include both anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Both disorders can be indentified and diagnosed differently with signs and symptoms. With diagnosis, many adolescents lack physical self-awareness, motivation, and feelings of depression due to their stage of cognitive development (Golden & Katzman & Kreipe & Stevens & Sawe r& Rees & Nicholl s& Rome, 2003). However, the causes of these disorders can be categorized into two factors, the external factors such as
Different treatments for eating disorders are very important for parents and patients to understand and know so they can choose the best one for them, but it is not the only challenge when wanting to overcome an
Fairborn (2005) points out that there is a range of treatment options and a variety of treatment settings for anorexia nervosa, however there is inadequate empirical support for this abundance of options as what minimal research on the treatment has been inconclusive. One reasoning behind this is that anorexia nervosa has been an uncommon disorder and sample sizes for studies have been low. Furthermore, the lack of evidence based treatment research can be attributed to the individual’s avoidance of treatment and dropping out of treatment. Many individuals with anorexia nervosa are unwilling to change as their identity and self-worth are intertwined with their distorted body image; they tend to deny that anything is wrong with their weight and are ambivalent on changing (Abbate-Daga, Amianto, Delsedime, De-Bacco & Fassino,
This was to be their sole psychological intervention. Those patients who agreed received this treatment and were then followed-up 60 weeks later. The first phase in the programme was to emphasize on helping patients think afresh about their current state and the processes maintaining it. The pros and cons of tackling their eating disorder were analysed. Then, if willing, patients are helped to regain weight while at the same time they address their eating disorder psychopathology and the processes maintaining it. Modification of the concerns about shape and weight were also explored. In the final phase the focus is on helping patients maintain the changes that they have