What Are Some Treatments for Bulimia?
Question by Sadie: What are some treatments for bulimia?
What are the best treatments for overcoming bulimia, not counting in-patient hospital stays? Do the support groups work?
Best answer:
Answer by cup_183
I think if you or someone you know are belemic you should see a social worker or physciatrist
Answer by AreolaDC
Regardless of how long you have had bulimia, recovery is possible. To recover, you must:
begin and continue treatment,
make the necessary lifestyle changes, and
resolve the underlying psychological and emotional issues that led to your bulimia. Psychotherapy as treatment for bulimia
Because poor body image and low self-esteem underlie bulimia, psychotherapy is an important aspect of treatment for bulimia. Many people with bulimia feel isolated and shamed by their bingeing and purging, and therapists can help.
Individual psychotherapy addresses the emotional underpinnings of bulimia. Therapy helps you to identify concerns, solve problems, overcome fears, and test new skills. Each kind of therapist approaches discussions about bulimia differently, according to specialty.
Cognitive behavior therapy focuses on the thoughts that envelop food and eating. One of the main goals is for you to become more self-aware of your relationship to food. Your therapist may ask you to keep a food diary or a journal of your thought processes about food.
Behavior therapy uses rewards and repercussions to change the behaviors of bingeing and purging. The behavior therapist teaches you to recognize triggers for bingeing and purging and to interrupt the “rituals” of bulimic episodes by substituting relaxation and other coping strategies.
Other types of psychotherapy focus on social and emotional conditions in your life that can lead to low self-esteem, which may in turn contribute to your bulimia. Therapists may include massage or relaxation exercises in your mental health treatment.
Family therapy looks at the family dynamics that may contribute to your bulimia and often includes some therapy sessions without you. Family therapy may be the solution when the person with bulimia denies the eating disorder.
Marital therapy, or couples therapy, helps to strengthen the relationship between life partners and helps to resolve communication problems. The partner can then provide better support for recovery from bulimia.
Group therapy led by a psychotherapist allows you to talk in a supervised setting with other people who have bulimia. Group therapy helps to reduce the isolation you may feel about your eating disorder, and group members can support each other in their quest for wellness.
Support groups are led by trained volunteers or health professionals. To decide if a self-help support group will be effective in your bulimia treatment plan, see What about self-help groups?, from the National Eating Disorders Association. For help in finding a support group, refer to Eating Disorders Help and Support.
Medical care and monitoring for treatment of bulimia
A medical doctor assesses the physical effects of bulimia on your body, helps you to regain physical health, and monitors physical health during the course of the treatment program for bulimia.
Nutritional counseling for treatment of bulimia
A dietician helps you to develop and follow through on maintaining a healthy diet. To restore physical health, the dietician designs balanced meal plans that include the number of calories and kinds of nutrients that you need.
Medications as treatment for bulimia
It is generally agreed that medication alone is not effective as a treatment for bulimia, but a medical doctor or psychiatrist may prescribe drugs to help reduce the binging and purging of bulimia. Antidepressant drugs treat the depression and anxiety that often accompany (or cause) bulimia . Be sure to read Medications for Treating Depression and Anxiety: Making Informed Choices for a discussion of antidepressant risks.
Inpatient treatment centers for bulimia
If the physical effects of bulimia become life-threatening, or the psychological problems are severe, your mental health practitioner or medical doctor may recommend residential, inpatient treatment for bulimia. This may be in a hospital or in an eating disorders treatment center. After the initial, urgent care in a residential center, you will continue bulimia treatment on an outpatient basis.
Where can I find online referrals to bulimia treatment providers?
It can be scary and embarrassing to seek help for an eating disorder. But help is available! Treatment providers who specialize in eating disorders are available all over the world. You can search online, in private, for a referral to an bulimia treatment provider.
Each of the following organizations provides online referrals to help you to find treatment for bulimia (and treatment for other kinds of eating disorders).
National Eating Disorders Association (USA & Canada)
Eating Disorder Referral and Information Center (USA; some in Australia, Canada, Germany, Scotland, & UK)
Pale Reflections Eating disorders community Treatment finder (worldwide)
Eating Disorders Association (UK)
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