Eating Disorder Treatment: What to Expect

[Listen to an audio version of this blog HERE.]

A lot of people read my blog and send me questions about eating disorders: how can someone tell if their child has one? What are the signs? Is it a genetic issue or caused by environmental pressures? What does social media have to do with everything? Can eating disorders be resolved on their own or do they require specific treatment? This last question gets me. It could be possible to recover without help, but I’ve never heard of it, and I certainly didn’t experience it. I had the support of an outpatient program as well as years of therapy and intimate work with a dietitian. Today, I’m going to do my best to disseminate the different types of treatments and help you understand what to expect.

The first step in recovering from an eating disorder is getting a diagnosis. Treating an eating disorder generally involves a combination of psychological and nutritional counseling, along with medical and psychiatric monitoring. Treatment should address the physical aspects of an eating disorder and the subsequent medical consequences, as well as the psychological, biological, interpersonal, and cultural forces that contribute to or maintain the disorder. Essentially, the more comprehensive the treatment plan to more likely it will be to succeed.