Acupuncture for Eating Disorders

Treating eating disorders can be very challenging. Relapse is common, and there are many different approaches to treatment. Some programs focus on reforming eating behaviors, while others dig deeper to treat the negative emotions connected with disordered eating behaviors. There are programs that involve the whole family for support, while others solely treat the individual.

A new type of eating disorder program may gain popularity in the future. A recent study indicates that acupuncture may provide benefits to eating disorder patients in improving their quality of life. The study was conducted at Victoria University in Melbourne Australia by S. Fogarty and colleagues.

The researchers wanted to investigate the role of acupuncture as a prescribed adjunct therapy for female eating disorder patients. The team used a randomized cross-section design, offering two treatment phases to participants in an eating disorder treatment facility in Melbourne.

The participants were recruited from those already receiving treatment at the facility, with nine women with an average age of 23.7 years asked to enroll in the study. 5 of the women were diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, and the remaining 4 met criteria for bulimia nervosa.

In order to measure whether the acupuncture had any effect on the treatment outcomes of the participants, the researchers used several assessments. The tools used were the Eating Disorder Inventory-3, the Becks Depression Inventory-2, State Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Eating Disorder Quality of Life Scale. With these assessment tools, the researchers were able to measure many different aspects of the effects of the acupuncture.

The results of the study indicate that acupuncture was successful at improving participants’ quality of life as measured by the Eating Disorder Quality of Life tool. The researchers also found evidence of a lowering of anxiety and of perfectionism. These aspects were measured by the State Trait Anxiety Intervention and the Eating Disorder Inventory-3, respectively.

The study’s findings show that there may be a place for acupuncture in treatment of eating disorders. Treatment facilities may want to explore including acupuncture as a way to improve quality of life for its patients, and possibly also improving the anxiety and perfectionism aspects that can be very challenging for eating disorder patients.

The use of acupuncture as a treatment for eating disorders may become part of the wide array of tools used to improve the patients’ chances of recovery. The lowering of anxiety and perfectionism may help patients be more successful at learning healthy eating behaviors.
 

Tags: acupuncture