Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are a type of sickness caused by unhealthy eating habits and consistent stress on the body that usually causes weight changes and shape. It may be because of eating a lot which quickly leads to a person’s wellbeing be affected (Crow et al., 2009).  There are different types of eating disorders, but the common ones are:

  • Anorexia Nervosa – a person having this type of disease will fear to add weight, and have a healthy body weight.
  • Bulimia Nervosa – anyone with this disorder always has that fear about their body shape and size and becomes unhappy with it.
  • Binge Eating Disorder – this disorder makes someone to lose standard control over how they eat (Fairburn et al., 2009).

Signs and symptoms

A person either female or male who has  some problem with their eating disorder will show these types of signs and symptoms, which are:

  • Consistent fluctuation on weight
  • Participating in eating habit that is ritualistic such as having their food cut into small sizes, going to eat alone.
  • Dieting continuously even after being underweight
  • Having that urge of eating fatty foods and calories
  • Depression
  • Having a change on a routine such as switching on fasting and eating a lot
  • Skipping functions such as family gathering and friends’ meetings
  • Individual may cook a meal for all the people and refuse to take it at the end

Diagnosis

The way eating disorder is being diagnosed is mainly focused on the eating habit of a person, signs, and symptoms ( Fairburn et al., 2009). If a nurse or a doctor  fears that you have this type of disorder, he will have to examine you and do a simple test to identify a diagnosis. Where you will have a look at both the results of primary and professional care for diagnosis (Crow et al., 2009).

The test that is  carried out include:

  • Physical exam – you  will be examined to get rid of a medical problem that could be the cause of an eating disorder and directs you to a lab test (Brownell & Walsh, 2017).
  • Psychological assessment – a medical professional will ask some question on how you feel thoughts on eating habits that could be in the form of questionnaires.
  • Other studies – further testing will be done to see if there is any complication that could be linked to the eating disorder.

Treatment

To treat the eating disorder , a team approach is helpful a lot, which will include providers in the primary care, dietitians and a mental test profession who are all good in eating disorders (Crow et al.,2009). To get well from eating disorder, it first depends on the type of disease but all in all, it mainly includes nutrition, having a medical test, education, and psychotherapy, but if it gets out of hand a hospitalization should be prioritized.

Eating Disorders

A member of your group can join you to develop a plan to get a good eating habit irrespective of weight (Brownell & Walsh, 2017).

 

Psychotherapy

These  will help you  to know what is healthy for you  and get rid of the old habit of eating, they  include:

  • Family-based therapy
  • Cognitive behavioral therapy

Medication

Will help in the control of diet examples of drugs are antidepressants, which will help when you have depression, which causes eating disorders (Fairburn et al., 2009).

Complication

An eating disorder can be threatening to life as it affects and brings irregularities in cardiac condition for example tachycardia, bradycardia these conditions are tested after getting electrocardiograph (Brownell & Walsh, 2017).  Renal abnormality, which is a cause by dehydration is another complication. Other complications are:

  • Skeletal condition
  • Cognitive changes
  • Neurological abnormalities
  • Depression
  • Thyroid abnormalities

Conditions above are the medical complication of the eating disorder.

Reference

Brownell, K. D., & Walsh, B. T. (Eds.). (2017). Eating disorders and obesity: A comprehensive handbook. Guilford Publications.

Crow, S. J., Peterson, C. B., Swanson, S. A., Raymond, N. C., Specker, S., Eckert, E. D., & Mitchell, J. E. (2009). Increased mortality in bulimia nervosa and other eating disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 166(12), 1342-1346.

Fairburn, C. G., Cooper D Phil, Dip Psych, Z., Doll D Phil, H. A., O’Connor, M. E., Bohn D Phil, Dip Psych, K., Hawker, D. M., … & Palmer, R. L. (2009). Transdiagnostic cognitive-behavioral therapy for patients with eating disorders: a two-site trial with a 60-week follow-up. American Journal of Psychiatry, 166(3), 311-319 .

 

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