|
Overview
The fundamental goals of treating an eating disorder are to:
• Help patients view food, their bodies, and weight regulation within a more healthful framework
• Provide individuals with the tools they need to live healthy and effective lives.
To be effective, treatment must identify and explore patients' distressing symptoms and determine how these symptoms help patients cope with their life circumstances. Treatment must also teach patients to manage symptoms themselves and suggest alternative, healthful ways to cope with them. This approach is based upon the belief that patients have the capacity to seek new paths while benefiting from knowledge gained from previous experiences.
Although eating disorder treatment varies from person to person, it tends to be most effective when it is addressed on multiple fronts. For example, a comprehensive treatment program might include:
• Psychological counseling with a licensed mental health professional who specializes in treating patients with eating disorders
• Regular medical monitoring by healthcare professionals who specialize in eating disorders
• Nutritional counseling.
Much is known about the treatment of eating disorders, and several treatments now have empirical support to substantiate their effectiveness. For example, treatment of adolescents with an eating disturbance should involve the parents, according to the Maudsley Method of Family Therapy, the treatment with the most supporting research.
The Maudsley Method requires that parents attend weekly family sessions and entrusts parents with the task of nourishing their children with anorexia nervosa back to health. Parents are to remain actively informed of the treatment process and goals and attend therapeutic sessions to the extent possible and advisable for their family's unique circumstances.
|
