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Those who suffer from eating disorders experience a distortion of body image, resulting in strong feelings of dissatisfaction with their physical appearance. Often a person struggling with disordered eating will reinforce that dissatisfaction by dwelling on images of what they consider to be an appealing body shape.
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A new act, propelled by two Minnesota senators, seeks to improve the plight of those suffering from eating disorders and prevent future cases. The Freed Act would allocate research money to the National Institutes of Health to better investigate the causes of eating disorders and improve treatment methods. The research would also seek to improve public data on eating disorders, including morbidity and mortality rates.
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Finding quality treatment for an eating disorder can be overwhelming task. To help make it easier to find help, Eating Disorder Hope launched the Eating Disorder Specialist Library—a comprehensive resource for exploring and comparing treatment options, providers, approaches, and more.
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Eating disorders affect millions of individuals throughout the world, impacting their health and even threatening death. Healthcare providers are still somewhat puzzled at certain symptoms found in these individuals, especially those with anorexia nervosa. Now, new technology is providing some much-needed insight. (more…)
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A mother has filed what experts believed to be a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against the Pittsburgh Public Schools, claiming her daughter developed anorexia because male students bullied her about her weight, forcing her to leave the district.
But the Associated Press reports that those experts—including the head of the National Eating Disorders Association—say that linking bullying to anorexia is oversimplification, at best.
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By Colin Gilbert
Among the many types of treatment available to individuals suffering from eating disorders, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) stands out as especially effective. Because it targets the complex relationships between thoughts, feelings, and actions, CBT efficiently gets to the root of bulimia, anorexia, and other disorders where a person’s distorted self-image leads them to adopt unhealthy eating habits.
With most eating disorders, a warped perception of self is responsible for harmful eating habits. As a result of societal pressure or interpersonal abuse, a person may obsess over her weight and feel overweight even when she is not. Or, an overweight individual may erroneously associate food with comfort and safety. Feelings of fear, guilt, and despair often accompany the overwhelming preoccupation with eating or not eating, and the thoughts can lead to various types of damaging behavior.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is based on the idea that thoughts and actions are inexorably tied. Every person develops habits of thought that are the product of genetic disposition, environmental stimuli, and personal choices. In turn, those cognitive habits lead to specific kinds of behavior which can sometimes be self-destructive.
The aim of CBT is to identify and repair unhealthy patterns of thought, and consequently break the cycle of destructive behavior. For those who feel powerless in stopping the harm done by their sickness, CBT offers the encouraging idea that each individual has the power and potential to initiate his or her own healing.
According to University of Chicago’s Department of Psychiatry, cognitive behavioral therapy is ideal for treating bulimia nervosa and is also recommended in cases of anorexia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, and other eating disorders. The university’s research suggests that CBT adds to the benefits of medication and other forms of psychotherapy.
Patients receiving CBT are typically asked to keep a journal of food consumption as well as a record of cravings, aversions, binging and purging episodes, and the feelings that accompany the behaviors. Planned meals help build healthy eating habits and appropriate attitudes toward diet and nutrition.
CBT sessions for eating disorders are typically an hour long and can be either private or group-based. Meetings are usually scheduled weekly or every two weeks and may last for one to six months. While CBT is often successful in managing eating disorders, it is not necessarily a permanent cure, and continued discipline on the part of the patient is required for long-term health.
Battling an eating disorder can be a terrifying and lonely experience, but help is available to those seeking it. Anyone interested in pursuing cognitive behavioral therapy for an eating disorder should contact his or her general practitioner for advice on finding local help. Links are also available through www.nationaleatingdisorders.org.
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Scientific evidence shows that our food intake is governed by both the need to eat for survival and the desire to eat, the latter of which is controlled by the dopamine signaling system in our brains. Dopamine controls motivation, movement, and feelings of pleasure, and it urges us to eat and lets us know that eating makes us feel good. The same thing happens in drug addiction.
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