Jacob Smith

Rough Draft

Prof. Flores

4/21/2019

Eating disorders and the way they are treated

Eating disorders is an extremely dangerous thing that can cause you or someone that

you know to have extreme health issues or even death. An eating disorder is something that

can not be taken lightly. The reason that this is so dangerous is that the disorder is not only

affecting you body but, it is affecting your mind as well. The definition of an eating disorder

is that of a psychological disorder that is labeled as an abnormal or disturbed eating habit. In

today’s society I think that we have a warped reality of how serious an eating disorder is to

the people that are affected.

When going over this topic there will be many different aspects that are going to

brought up whether that is the treatment, severity, long term affects, ect. An eating disorder
is a complicated thing that can have ling term affects and there needs to be a change in the

way that we think and talk about these problems as a society. When going over therapies

there will be talk of different treatments and different ways to go about solving this issue. An

important statistic to keep in mind during this discussion is that around half of the people that

have anorexia, a common disorder in the realm of eating disorders where a person starves

themselves, end up causing bodily harm to themselves that could possible end up with them

killing themselves.

Seeing that this is a big issue that connects to problems involving the brain there will

be a lot of talk about therapies and different ways to cope and overcome a disorder such like

this. One of the first types of therapies that are going to be helpful are the individual therapy.

This is exactly as it sounds it’s a one on one session with the patient and the therapist. These

can range from anywhere to once or five times a week, depending on how serious a case

there is. Another big therapy type that is common with most types of mental disorders,

including eating disorders, is called Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. This type if therapy has

to deal with the may your mind thinks and develop as most therapies do but, this type of
therapy deals with working on the and focusing on the patterns of thinking that are

maladaptive and the beliefs that underlie such thinking. The examples for these are that of

the “I am fat” or from someone that is depressed may believe in the fact that, “I’m

worthless,” and a person that has the fear of something that, “I am in danger”. This type of

treatment has been found that there are many different types of disorders that have been

helped with this type of therapy. In this discussion the depth on the therapeutic aspect of the

world of eating disorders is important for my argument. There will be a lot of talk about this

due to my think of this being one of the most important things that we as a whole need to

think of more when it comes to these disorders and how they affect the people that have

them. The reason that this is, is because in my mind when people think about the person that

has a disorder is anorexic and they are really skinny, it seems that the majority of people

think that, that person is just overly obsessed with having a skinny frame. I am trying to

prove that this is not the case, that they have an extremely warped sense of their body and

that they have had things that are wrong with them that have happened in a situation in the

past that made them feel like they have to be super skinny to be good enough for something
or something in their life that they have going on at that exact moment that has mentally

broken them. With that information I feel like people will be more aware of what they say

about people that have these disorders.

The next therapy that there is that has seemed to prove affective is family therapy

again that is self-explanatory, which is were there is a therapist in the room with the person

with the disorder and one or more of their family members. This type of therapy has proven

affective in types of disorders that have to deal with people that are affected by family

interactions, which are quite a few of them but, especially eating disorders. There are many

ways that a family member can help someone that has an eating disorder. They can do things

such as exercises with the person or maybe just being an at home or on call therapist. Not

saying that the person should act as a full time therapist or even give the only therapy that is

provided to the person, that majority should always be left to the professionals, but they can

always lend a helping hands or even just be able to listen to the person and see if they are

able to help the person in any way shape or form. There can be ways that the person in the
family can hurt the person with the disorder. This would be in the case were the person is

could be a possible source of the problem or a deterrent, meaning in a way that they are

saying this unconsciously that are making things harder for the person with the disability.

This is were a family therapy session could also work to show that the family member is able

to understand from the therapist on what they should be doing and what they shouldn’t be

doing. There are also times were the family member is doing things for the worse on

purpose. Believe it or not there could be room for improvement in family therapy in this area

as well. The family member could go to therapy and find the reason that they are doing this

and fix it as well for themselves as well as the person that has the eating disorder.

There are also therapeutic ways that the person can be helped without the use

psychotherapy. There are types of therapy that focus on the wellness and the nutrition

counseling of the patient. This involves the process of helping the patient return to a normal

weight. The dietitians and other healthcare providers can help you change the old and beliefs

about food, dieting, and exercise. They help you with food planning and understanding what

type of exercise is right for your body.

 There are also other things that can help the patient cope with their condition and that

is with mental health screenings, which is a way to try and show what exactly brain

abnormalities that they may or may not have. Interventions are mostly used for people that

have severe drug addictions and are not willing to get help. An intervention is a grouping of

family members and close friends that have a meeting with a person that has an addiction or

a problem that they aren’t willing to cope with. Intervention can prove to be affective in a

situation with where the person that has an eating disorder is in complete denial about their

condition and needs the help of family members and friends to push them to the point of

realization.

Now to go through the different types of symptoms that could come up with a person

that has an eating disorder to help out the people that suspect that they might know some that

has a disorder but, is not sure and wants to be sure. When a person has came to the point

where dieting weight loss and control of food is now their primary concern over anything.

Refusing to eat certain types of foods (could progress to not wanting to eat certain types of
food groups). Feels uncomfortable eating around others and skipping meals or taking small

portions at regular meals. Any new abnormal practices with food diets, like cutting out food

groups all together. Withdrawal from usual friends and activities. Extreme concern with body

size and shape. Frequently checking the mirror for flaws in appearance and mood swings of

extreme extent. Those were the emotional and the behavior, there are easier ones to spot like

their physical appearance and behaviors. Noticeable movements of weight, fainting, cuts on

top of finger joints, increasingly worse dental problems, muscle weakness, or extreme weight

loss.

Some of the arguments that I might hear with this topic is that maybe people

don’t have the money to fix these problems. What I would say to that id that you are dealing

with someone’s life that you are close to and if you can’t spare money to save them are you

really there for them. Another one that there might be that people can’t be aware now today

because it could be considered offensive. I would say to that is again this is someone you are

supposed to care about and that you should be able to let them know if you think that there is

something wrong with them.

 This image is of a person that is on a scale. They have a tape measure that is locked

around their ankles and they can’t move. This symbolizes that they are confined by their own

body shape and weigh and that they are a prisoner of the scale.

In conclusion there is somethings that you can’t just skip out on and mental health

and physical well being is one of them. When going about learning more on eating disorders

this is where you should start with this and make sure that you know the basics when

deciding what to do with your family member and friend. I think when it comes to this you

should always be aware. If some more people were aware I think that the statistic with the

anorexic people in the beginning maybe we could cut down the percentage with just a little

bit of new found knowledge.

“Eating Disorder Treatment and Eating Disorder Therapies.” Eating Disorder Hope, 2018,

www.eatingdisorderhope.com/treatment-for-eating-disorders/types-of-treatments.

“Eating Disorders.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 22
Feb. 2018, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/eating-disorders/symptoms-
causes/syc-20353603.

“Eating Disorders.” MedlinePlus, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 Mar. 2019,

medlineplus.gov/eatingdisorders.html.

Farrar, Tabitha. “Home.” .........Types of Treatment, Apr. 2014, www.mirror-mirror.org/treating-

eating-disorders.htm.

MD, Bethesda. “Eating Disorders.” National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, Feb. 2016, www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/eating-
disorders/index.shtml.

NAMI. “Eating Disorders .” Eating Disorders , Independent Digital News and Media, 2019,
www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-Conditions/Eating-Disorders.

Norton , Renea. “Center for Eating Disorders and Obesity Treatment Cincinnati.” Eating
Disorder Pro, 2018,
www.eatingdisorderpro.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjwv6blBRBzEiwAihbM-
cpdSBN9ZY8_ktw3NKGuilAxX-
7FDXH0GMBgi5Kw3M7kpek7HjQoRBoC784QAvD_BwE.