What Is the Treatment for Anorexia Nervosa?

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder which is commonly prevalent in teenage girls and young women. While there have been some cases recorded with male patients as well it is far more common in their female counterparts.What Is the Treatment for Anorexia Nervosa

Treatment for anorexia involves a wholesome approach which includes appropriate and adequate food, correct amount of exercise and prevention of purging by the patient. The better the support system that the patient has in place the more likely they are to beat the disorder.

Psychotherapy

The disorder is highly psychological in nature and as such the mental attitude of the patient must be considered primarily before any kind of treatment can be begun. The one on one counseling is an essential step in the treatment for anorexia.

Most of the patients of the disease are young girls who have a very poor self image of themselves. They tend to relate the self image to the way that they look.

If they are fat or feel ugly they will become all the more obsessed with limiting their food intake and getting extra physical exercise. This instead of keeping them fit makes the physical body even weaker.

Support Group and psychotherapy

The “You are not alone” card can be played by the doctors here to make the patient understand that they have other people suffering in similar ways. The patient can be introduced to individual therapy at first and then proceed into group or family therapy. The psychiatrists will be best suited to advice the right kind of psychotherapy that would be appropriate to the patient.

Having a support group can make a major difference in dealing with eating disorders like anorexia nervosa. It is important for the patient to see that the disorder is indeed not normal and a number of people can suffer from it the same way that they did. As treatment for anorexia psychotherapy can play an important part.

Nutrition counseling

Anorexia nervosa is characterized with the patient being obsessed with poor diet habits. Since diet is such an important part of the treatment for anorexia it is indeed essential to come up with a good nutrition based diet. A certified nutritionist should be made to work with the patient to show the reality of how the food that is being eaten affects the body.

As part of the nutrition counseling the nutritionist should make the patient realize how damaging the limited diet intake, that they tend to follow, is for the body. They should also work out a diet plan for the patient, which will help them to eat healthy and restore their weight to a healthy and acceptable level.

Medical monitoring and medications

As part of treatment for anorexia nervosa the doctor in charge will probably make regular medical checkups mandatory to reveal if the patient is slipping up. The doctors may also prescribe specific medication to deal with the mental state of the patient. Additional mineral and vitamin supplements to help strengthen the weakened body may also be prescribed to deal with the malnutrition that the body has faced. Medication will be specific to the individual patient.