Eating Disorders: How Are They Addressed Through Psychotherapy?
Eating disorders are part of the most severe psychological disorders.
In fact, they can lead to death either through the wear and tear suffered by the body or due to cardiac collapse due to a drop in potassium in the body due to vomiting or due to the relationship of these disorders with suicide attempts, relatively common in people who develop them.
That is why, when faced with disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and similar, it is important to go to therapy as soon as possible with qualified professionals. In this article we will see How to work in psychotherapy to manage the symptoms of eating disorders and overcome them.
Those known as Eating Disorders (ED), also called eating disorders, are psychological disorders in which the person who develops them adopts pathological ways of eating Within this category we mainly find these TCAs.
1. Bulimia
In bulimia nervosa, the person experiences uncontrollable urges to binge eat after which they perform behaviors to try to compensate for that intake, such as vomiting or exercising to burn at least part of those extra calories.
People with anorexia They perceive that they have an overweight problem that obsesses them which is why they avoid as much as possible eating the food that their body needs.
3. Binge eating disorder
This is an eating disorder similar to bulimia, but with the difference that after the binge eating, no purging or compensating behaviors are carried out (except carrying out a more restrictive or rigid diet, thus building up to the next binge).
4. Other disorders associated with obesity
There are other psychological problems linked to diet, such as the tendency to eat a lot on a regular basis or even the perception that you are too thin when you really are not However, in these cases there is less consensus about whether these phenomena constitute alterations comparable to the Eating Disorders that we have seen so far.
Treatment of eating disorders in psychotherapy
Let’s now look at the key ideas that help understand how to intervene in Eating Disorders through psychotherapy.
1. Accompaniment of the therapeutic process
The psychologists We address problems that arise from the very fact of being aware that one has a disorder and from the changes in day-to-day life experienced by those who treat this problem For example, fears and insecurities related to the use of psychotropic drugs and new foods and quantities to which it is necessary to adapt.
2. Adoption of healthier habits
In psychotherapy, they propose Strategies to adopt new habits that make it easier to have a healthy diet It is not a question of learning to cook certain dishes, but of implementing behaviors that help to have a healthy relationship with food as opposed to compensatory rituals (running to lose weight, vomiting, etc.).
Many times, people with certain eating disorders try to nullify an unpleasant emotional state by eating food that they like. That’s why, In psychotherapy they are helped to be more skilled at correctly identifying their emotions and their psychological states in general something that allows us to apply appropriate solutions for these forms of discomfort, instead of “covering” them with food without truly being hungry.
4. Learn to recognize behavioral patterns
Another task of psychologists is to help patients better understand their behavioral styles on a daily basis. To do this, they are encouraged to make regular self-records, and they are given the keys to learn to detect trends in the patterns of thought and behavior that they write down and describe.
5. Set goals and commit to improvement
in psychotherapy It encourages patients to be motivated to meet the objectives that will lead them to overcome their disorder In addition, they are taught to adopt the appropriate predisposition to achieve goals without becoming discouraged and throwing in the towel.
6. Prevention of suicidal behavior
Suicide attempts are a much more common phenomenon among patients with eating disorders than among the rest of the population, which does not mean that the majority of these people are going to try to take their own lives. That is why in therapy these issues are explored to act in time and propose alternatives.
7. Prevention and intervention of other problems
Eating disorders promote the appearance of other psychological disorders or are often the cause of them, such as trauma, depression, addictions or generalized anxiety
That is why in addition to preventing the appearance of these, improving the mental health of the patient by intervening in their Eating Disorder, psychologists must work on the signs of other possible behavioral alterations that are harmful to the person and that do not have directly to do with feeding. There is much more than we think, beneath that visible part associated with food, to an eating disorder.
Are you looking for professional psychological support?
If you think you may be experiencing symptoms associated with an eating disorder and would like to attend psychotherapy, we invite you to contact us. In the Miguel Ángel Psychology and Psychotherapy center We have a team with decades of experience helping people with these types of problems, both in online therapy and in-person therapy at our facilities in Bilbao. You will find more information about us on this page.
