What is the Most Effective Treatment for Eating Disorders?

For many people, it is difficult to imagine how others suffer from eating disorders. The idea of throwing up a delicious meal or trying to maintain an almost skeletal-like frame seems absurd to them.

Yet for those who do suffer from such disorders, it is a very serious reality that it is not about food or about entering the modeling world, rather it is about problems with control. This article will discuss this issue since many truly suffer from this, often in secret, and need help.

Causes Behind the Problem

The primary cause for most stems from control. Some feel that they lack control in certain areas of their life. The root causes of such are psychological such as low self-esteem, perfectionism, or difficulties controlling the emotions. Since they are not able to overcome these, they instead try to consciously control something else like their food intake. San Diego Christian Counseling can help address these underlying issues.

For others, the control problem comes from elements in their environment such as peer pressure, bullying, family concerns or abuse. The world around them is chaotic and problematic so they try to establish some sense of control by controlling how they eat.

To a lesser extent, the disorder may manifest in reaction to stress at work or in the classroom, especially in the case of binge eating where people may seek their comfort food when they feel bombarded with problems.

Additionally, biological problems may also cause eating disorders to develop. Abnormal levels of body chemicals connected to sleep, stress, appetite or mood may also cause a person to overeat or undereat.

Unfortunately, eating disorders often run in the family. If a parent has an issue with overeating or undereating, it is oftentimes passed on to the children since they usually model what they see.

So Just How Bad is it?

According to the Washington State Department of Health (www.doh.wa.gov Mental Health-Eating Disorders, August 27, 2016):

“Approximately 1% of adolescent girls in the United States develop anorexia nervosa and 2-5% of adolescent girls develop bulimia. Anorexia is the third most common chronic illness among adolescents in the United States. The prevalence of eating disorders in males is much smaller than females but an estimated 19-30% of anorexia cases diagnosed in older adolescents are male.”

For the adult population in the US, eating disorders affect one million males and ten million females across the country. Moreover, four out of ten people know of someone who has experienced an eating disorder or they have personally undergone such a struggle themselves.

The following are the estimates of eating disorders over men and women’s lifetimes.

For men … For women …

● 0.3% will battle anorexia ● 0.9% will deal with anorexia

● 0.5% will deal with bulimia ● 5% will struggle against bulimia

● 0.2% will struggle with binge eating ● 5% will battle binge eating

(National Institute of Mental Health, nimh.nih.gov, Eating Disorders, August 27, 2016).

Perhaps for those who are not plagued by this, the statistics are meaningless. But for those affected by them, whether personally or because of people they know, the numbers are disturbing.

These Disorders are an Addiction

When people think of the word “addiction”, shopping, sex, drugs, or alcohol abuse come readily to mind. But eating disorders are also an addiction.

Binge eating can easily be identified as an addiction as sufferers may crave food in times of stress the same way a person may crave alcohol or cigarettes when stressed. Yet one’s obsession with having a particular body size is also an addiction since sufferers do what they do (e.g. vomiting up food or undereating) to achieve their goal.

Treatment for Eating Disorders

Just like the other addictions out there, it is very difficult to overcome an eating disorder alone. Treatment for eating disorders is necessary, lest something even worse (e.g. health complications, other addictions, severe depression, or suicide) happens to the sufferer.

Usually a team of specialists – counselor, dietician, and psychiatrist (if medication is involved) – is needed to overcome the problem. Individual and family counseling are highly encouraged to help both the sufferer and their family deal with the issue.

The sufferer must face the root cause of their addiction in order to overcome it. However, family members must also acknowledge their own feelings (e.g. shame, guilt, anger, regret) about having a loved one who is suffering from this, and they must learn what they need to do to help in the recovery.

Group counseling with other sufferers helps the person realize that they are not the only one battling such disorders. Insights are often gained in these groups leading to faster recovery.

Many times this support may be done on an outpatient basis via regular appointments with counselors and the medical team. In extreme cases, however, inpatient care at a facility may be needed with such care lasting anywhere from a few months up to a year.

Other Helpful Activities

In addition to the professional support, there are other things that may be done to speed up recovery.

1) Meditation or yoga may help relax the mind and body.

2) Exercise, which should be at least 30 minutes a day, three times a week, keeps the body healthy and may take the thoughts off of binge eating. Just be careful that the sufferer does not overdo it as excessive exercise may be connected to obsession over bodyweight.

3) Proper diet, as instructed by the dieticians, can get the body back on track.

4) Appointments with a specialist for connected disorders will help overcome problems like anxiety, alcohol or drug addictions, depression or other issues.

5) Hobbies like reading, art projects, music and other creative activities can refocus the mind on something positive to help boost self-esteem and self-love.

6) Helping others at this time of healing can also boost recovery. Most people usually feel more thankful for life and their blessings when they are able to assist others in need.

Prayer and Bible Reading

A very important activity to help overcome eating disorders is to spend time in prayer and Bible reading. Prayer allows us to communicate and connect with God. When this is done, a person feels less alone and less helpless, knowing that God the Almighty is there. It is only God who truly sees how beautiful and special we all are so it is His love that we should all seek.

But prayer must be paired with knowing more about God through His Word. It is difficult to trust someone we do not know so it is important to know more about God by meditating on Scripture. Aside from bringing us closer to Him, God’s Word will inspire sufferers in their struggle against their eating disorders.

The following, for example, are some Bible verses specifically for such disorders:

Don’t you know that your body is a temple that belongs to the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit, whom you received from God, lives in you. You don’t belong to yourselves. You were bought for a price. So bring glory to God in the way you use your body. – 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised. – Proverbs 31:30

The Lord is near all who call out to Him, all who call out to Him with integrity. – Psalm 145:18

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayers and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:6-7

Seek Christian Counseling

While counselors are available in many institutes, a Christian counselor is able to integrate treatment for eating disorders with Scripture and prayer. In this way, both the sufferer and their family are able to seek God together to gain spiritual peace and wisdom to surmount the eating disorder at hand. Furthermore, even after the disorder has been overcome, the benefit of knowing God more intimately helps in whatever happens afterward.

If you or a loved one is suffering from an eating disorder, seek help soon before things worsen. Counselors at San Diego Christian Counseling can provide the support you need. Remember, God always has the best in mind for us.

The only temptations that you have are the same temptations that all people have. But you can trust God. He will not let you be tempted more than you can bear. But when you are tempted, God will also give you a way to escape that temptation. Then you will be able to endure it. – 1 Corinthians 10:13