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Eating Disorder Treatment

Centers for eating disorder treatment are located all around the country and can offer help and healing for those suffering from anorexia, bulimia and compulsive overeating. If left untreated or the patient is unresponsive to therapy, these food addictions can be fatal. So these centers for eating disorder treatment are often in a life and death fight for their patients and their specialized treatment and their staffs have a unique perspective on the underlying causes of these many-headed disorders. While these three major disorders or diseases can affect a wide spectrum of ages and ethnicities, and while the sufferer of anorexia will physically appear wildly different from those who have a compulsive eating disorder, the causes are often very much the same. The heart of the treatment for all these patients is group therapy, personal counseling, education and in some cases, medical intervention.



There are some centers for eating disorder treatment that are very private and quite expensive. In most cases, they are nestled in the woods in some idyllic setting around the United States or on some very peaceful mountainside that oozes exclusivity. These centers are located in such settings in order to help the client maintain focus on the process at hand. Other centers that are not as exclusive are often connected to a hospital outpatient wing or may be on a secluded floor of the main building. But in all of them is a staff of nutritionists, therapists, counselors and doctors of various disciplines. All these professionals are ready to help. But the Creator of the universe is also ready. "Out of the depths I have cried unto thee O Lord...I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait and in his word do I hope." (Psalm 130: 1, 5)



Anorexic patients are usually teens and college students, typically female although there are a small percentage of males who are also afflicted with the illness. The patient is usually quite concerned about body image and has transferred that concern into an obsessive fear of gaining weight. The fear turns the patient into someone who is slowly starving to death through purging, non-eating and excessive exercise. An anorexic patient is usually at fifteen percent below normal body weight and cannot perceive the often skeletal appearance as being abnormal. Counselors who provide eating disorder treatment are faced with those patients who are often bent on perfectionism, have low self-esteem, suffer from clinical depression and often host suicidal thoughts. And therapists who are responsible for helping these patients must fight through a culture that worships svelte, thin, and lithe and the attitude that Farah Fawcett was too full figured to ever be considered attractive.



Bulimia has many of the same underlying emotional causes but the disease is manifested in a different manner. Bulimics are most often young women who young, upper-class and high achievers. But bulimia can strike men and women of all ages. Bulimia is characterized by binge eating, brought on by sadness, depression, stress or anxiety. The binge eating is then followed by purging, or perhaps heavy uses of laxatives. While bulimia has no highly identifiable causes, like anorexia the culture of perfect bodies is thought to be a definite contributing factor by experts who provide eating disorder treatment. If a young woman has been teased about her body shape in the past, it can trigger bulimia. Bulimics often come from families where physical appearances were emphasized and diets reigned supreme.



Compulsive overeating patients who become clients at eating disorder treatment centers are also haunted by intense emotional issues that may trigger their self destructive behavior. The list is a familiar one: depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, along with obsessive compulsive disorder, and a number of other issues. The compulsive overeater may not be overweight or may be obese, but is a binge eater that is usually triggered by some emotional trauma. This person suffers through deep depression, hates himself after binging, blames his social failure and professional setbacks on weight issues and is tormented by eating habits. Often this overeating leads to a number of physical problems including hypertension, heart issues, diabetes and other life threatening ailments.



Be it anorexia, bulimia or compulsive overeating, psychotherapy is an important part of the counseling program at an eating disorder treatment center. Part of the psychotherapy is cognitive behavioral in nature. This is a method by which the therapist seeks to help the client begin thinking differently by identifying negative patterns of thinking. People who have illnesses such as eating disorders often have patterns of thinking that enlarge the negatives, minimize the positives and overgeneralizations. The therapist and the client work together to overcome these negative ways of thinking that so often trigger the self destructive behavior.



The conundrum that an eating disorder treatment center faces is that one the one hand there is the great desire that a loved one may have for a child or spouse to be healed of an eating disorder, but on the other hand until the client himself or herself admits to having a problem, there is nothing the center can do. If the reader struggles with an eating disorder, you are urged to face the issue squarely on immediately, and seek help. If you are the parent or the spouse of an affected person and they are in denial, seek out a support group for yourself. Find some kindred spirits who are going through your pain and worry. Pour your heart out to God and listen for His response

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