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Food Addiction Treatment

A food addiction treatment center is probably located near your place of residence, helping people with all forms of eating disorders. Some of the centers are highly specialized, private and extremely expensive, while many of them are associated with hospitals as part of their in or out-patient treatment. In most of these centers, binge eating disorder, bulimia and anorexia are all addressed, while some food addiction treatment centers may just address anorexia or bulimia. In fact, because anorexia often strikes adolescent females, some centers are very focused for this age group. In any of these conditions, a person that is fighting one of these issues may be in a fight for life itself. Obesity, anorexia and to some lesser degree, bulimia all take lives every year and raise medical costs for all society.

When it comes to obesity, there is more evidence recently that has lead to talks about this subject in terms of addiction, and not just as a refusal to have more will power. For the food addict, craving can often become as strong to the sufferer as what alcohol is to the alcoholic and drugs to a drug addict. Refined sugar, fats and white flour can be the drug of choice for many who fight compulsive overeating. Just telling people that they have to stop eating the comfort food that helps meet their emotional needs is like telling fish to stop wiggling their fins. And while society doesn't always understand the issues, food addiction treatment centers know the inner struggles that compulsive overeaters face.

Overeaters who are addicted to certain foods often have recurrent episodes of binge eating. These binges are often kicked off by certain emotional experiences that the overeater has had. Depression, worry, anger and other emotions are key triggers in often beginning a binge episode. And once the occurrence is over, the overeater is often filled with self anger, even rage and heavy doses of guilt. As a result of all the issues that compulsive overeaters face, food addiction treatment centers concentrate a great deal on individual and group cognitive therapy to help patients dig deeply into the cause for the binge eating. That translates into therapists and psychiatrists who must be involved in the staffs of all these treatment centers as well as nutritionists.

Bulimics have their own food addiction issues, including binge eating just as overeaters often have, but have a cycle of purging (self induced vomiting) following certain meals or after eating certain types of foods. Food addiction treatment centers understand that bulimics often use laxatives and diuretics and may exercise many hours a day in a sort of compulsive manner. These treatment centers must deal with usually young, highly educated and high achieving women who are overly concerned with body shape and weight. In many cases, these young women will leave the table after dinner to purge and are very susceptible to depression, irritability and mood swings. "God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; that thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations." (Psalm 67: 1, 2)

Food addiction treatment centers also deal with anorexia nervosa, which is a sometimes fatal mental disease that particularly affects young teen girls who are usually about fifteen percent under normal weight, but still see themselves as overweight. The issues that these young women face are complex and need intense therapy for a number of weeks or months. These young women, and a few men, can look at themselves in the mirror and see a heavy individual despite the fact that they are skeletal in appearance. Many of these patients must be hospitalized to have nourishment fed intravenously, but the illness can be fatal in six percent of the cases. The entrance into food addiction treatment center is often that last and final hope for the person suffering from such addictive behavior and for the ones that love them.

When a person enters a treatment center, he or she enters a world that has some very specific goals. The first goal would be to teach the person how to eat in a healthy manner. Depending on the food addiction issue, there may be one on one monitoring of the food intake with staff members from the staff. The staff will also want to see the patient regain or make a good a stab at reducing their weight, depending on the issue she is battling. As part of the treatment for the emotional trauma that is a part of food addictions, cognitive therapy plays an important part. Cognitive therapy is based on the idea that one's thoughts cause the feelings and behaviors that result in addictions. Taking the blame away from external things like people and situations allows a person to understand that he or she can change the way they think even if the situation doesn't.

Group therapy is also a large part of most food addiction treatment center programs. The ability to hear others who struggle with the same issue and hold one another accountable for their actions has been proven to be a strong ally in helping people heal. The use of psychodrama, the acting out of various situations that might bring out certain behaviors, often using props and occurring on a stage is one of the methods used by many treatment staffs. Knowing also that family members are affected by food addictions, the rest of the family is often included in counseling. Helping patients learn how to cope with the triggering events that occur in everyday situation are at the heart of treatment center programs.

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