Binge Eating Disorder Treatment
What Kind Of Help Is Best For Me?
The best type of Binge Eating Disorder Treatment will take a 'holistic' approach in order to help you as an individual, rather than just focusing upon 'the problem'.
All the areas that are involved in this complex condition - psychological, behavioural and nutritional should be taken into consideration, as they all have an important role, both in the development and the continuation of Binge Eating behaviour.
The main goals of Binge Eating Disorder Treatment could be summed up
in this diagram:
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Stabilise and Improve Nutrition: - helps reduce food cravings, improve mood, and rebalance nutrition important for all our bodies functions
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Reduce Binging Behaviour: - learning how to break the habit and develop other coping skills
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Improve Mental Wellbeing: - understand how you are feeling and how you deal with your emotions; tackle repeating negative thought patterns; deal with depression and anxiety; heal your relationship with food;
All of these areas should be addressed in any form of Binge Eating Disorder Treatment, and I hope you can see how, if just counselling or just a dietary approach is undertaken in isolation, then other important areas might not be dealt with adequately.
This can lead to frustration and disappointment, as despite the best of efforts on the part of the therapist and the client, the eating disorder might continue.
You can of course make the changes using selfhelp, by finding out all you can about the subject and relying on your own coping abilities.
But we all need help sometimes, and perhaps the 'gold standard' approach would be where you have a:
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Doctor,
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Counsellor or psychologist
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Dietician
all having an input, and all working together for your best interests. When you have this kind of support, along with your own selfhelp, education, and determination, you surely have the best chance of recovery.
So what particular therapies have been found to work in Binge Eating Disorder Treatment?
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Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) - this approach looks at how our THOUGHTS, FEELINGS and BEHAVIOURS all affect one another, and how making a positive change in one area can therefore lead to improvements in the other areas.
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Interpersonal Therapy - often family and relationship difficulties can exacerbate the bad feelings that help perpetuate an eating disorder. And also, eating disorders often LEAD to relationship problems aswell. This therapy helps with these issues, and helps in improving communication skills.
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Support Groups - these are often run for sufferers BY sufferers of eating disorders. This can help provide a supportive environment where people know they are not alone, and people can support one another with experience and understanding gained from their own experience.
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Medications - alongside nutritional help and counselling, medications can sometimes also help, such as anti-depressants or anti-anxiety medication. This is preferably a short-term aid, which you gradually come off once things are improving. This is where having a good doctor who has an understanding of the problems is so valuable.
There are many other possible approaches to Binge Eating Disorder Treatment, and I hope this has given you an insight into the kind of support you should be looking for. So if you need to, please do speak to your doctor.
The other pages on our website can help give you information and knowledge that can go a long way to helping you toward your full recovery.
