Treating an Eating Disorder 2

In the first part of the article, we concluded that there are two major elements that drive any eating disorder, namely a psychological and an emotional one. Since we covered the psychological causes and treatments in the first part, it's time to see how our emotions come into play when an eating disorder occurs. It should be noted that whereas some eating disorders (or particular cases) may lack the psychological component, all of them will have an emotional one.

Emotional-driven eating disorder causes

Most eating disorders share a common emotional cause in the "perfect body syndrome". This syndrome was produced over time in modern society, where we are bombarded with images on how our body should look like and how to carve our body for perfection. Because of each individual's own metabolism, natural factors, constitution and structure, some people find it extremely difficult to achieve these bodily standards, or it is simply impossible for them to do so. This causes emotional unrest and in a lot of cases, leads to some form of eating disorder. The most common disorders caused by this particular emotional issue are anorexia, binge eating and bulimia.

However, the above-mentioned problem is not the cause of all eating disorders. Emotional earthquakes, such as sudden and painful breakups can also be a springboard for an eating disorder. Compulsive overeating and binge eating are most often related to such emotional problems, where the person that has just gone through a painful breakup with his or her spouse will deliberately gain weight as to lose all form of attractiveness. By doing so, the sufferer tries to make sure he or she will never be harmed affectionately again.

Emotional-driven eating disorder treatment

Most of the emotional problems that stand as springboards for eating disorders can be treated with psychiatric help. The seriousness of the problem, as well as how fast it was diagnosed determines the length of the psychiatric treatment and also whether or not the patient will require additional medication. Anti-depressant medication such as Prozac is used in severe cases where the advanced state of depression in which the patient finds himself hinders the psychiatric treatment itself.

The first step of almost all psychiatric treatments is ensuring that the patient understands that he actually has a problem. This is one of the biggest issues revolving eating disorders, the patient will oftentimes find himself in a state where he either refuses to believe that what he does is wrong, or his semi-addiction (for food, for his body image, etc) doesn't allow him to willingly renounce his poor eating habits. It's the case with most sufferers of anorexia and bulimia, especially if the condition has settled in and it became more of a habit than an isolated case.

In conclusion, as you can very well see, treating an eating disorder is quite a complex process and it is a fight that needs to be fought on various theatres of operation. If you think you're suffering from an eating disorder, or if you have a friend that might be the victim of one, get ready for a long, hard battle. Nevertheless, regardless of how difficult this battle will be, remember that an eating disorder, if left untreated, may have devastating effects to the human body and eventually lead to death, so every effort must be made into treating it.