Every 52 minutes, someone dies due to eating disorder behaviors. This is an alarming statistic that underscores the need for championing early intervention and access to treatment.
Navigating eating disorder treatment can be confusing and challenging. It is important to get help and stay connected during recovery. This can include family, friends, roommates, colleagues, professional mentors and support groups.
Find a Psychiatrist or Mental Health Professional
Talk therapy, or psychotherapy, is a key component of most eating disorder treatment plans. A therapist who specializes in eating disorders will be able to understand the complexities that can go into disordered eating behaviors, and they will also likely have expertise in other mental health issues, as many people with an eating disorder have co-occurring conditions such as anxiety, clinical depression or substance abuse.
Psychiatrists and psychiatric nurse practitioners who specialize in eating disorders are also familiar with the psychiatric symptoms that often accompany an eating disorder. These symptoms can include anxiety, depression, OCD or PTSD. Often, these psychiatric symptoms are addressed through a combination of talk therapy and medication.
Medications are most effective when combined with therapy, but they can help reduce the urge to binge or purge, especially in cases of bulimia or binge eating. Several FDA-approved medications are available to treat these symptoms, but they must be prescribed by a psychiatrist or psychiatric nurse practitioner.
Identify Your Triggers
During this phase, individuals have completed the assessment and diagnosis process and are in an eating disorder treatment program. They may be in a day treatment program, residential program or partial hospitalization program.
Often during this stage, individuals have begun to recognize triggers and work on avoiding them. However, identifying and managing triggers can be challenging. For this reason, it is important to continue working with a therapist and addressing challenges that arise along the way.
It is also important to prioritize one’s needs and set boundaries around triggering situations. For instance, it is okay to say no to invitations and remove yourself from environments that can be a relapse trigger. In addition, it is helpful to practice self-compassion when experiencing a relapse or difficult situation. This helps to prevent people from beating themselves up and getting back into eating disorder behaviors. Instead, a person can be more curious about what caused the relapse and work with their treatment team on moving forward.
Create a Support Network
While you may have a team of medical and mental health professionals to support you, your recovery journey won’t be complete without the help and compassion of others. This is why it’s important to build your support system so that you have a network of people to call on for help when the going gets tough.
Your support system can include friends, colleagues, mentors and family members who can listen to your struggles and offer encouragement. These individuals should be able to relate to what you are dealing with and provide insight into how they have managed similar challenges.
Creating a support network will also give you a place to turn to when your eating disorder triggers you. For example, you can ask your support network to help you eat more mindfully or to hold you accountable when you feel like you’re struggling. This will only strengthen your commitment to recovery. Additionally, you can use social media to find eating disorder support groups and online resources that can help you navigate your recovery journey.
Stay Connected
While you’re supporting a loved one through eating disorder treatment, don’t neglect your own mental health. Make sure that you have an outlet for your own struggles and a support system, too.
Eating disorder treatment typically involves nutritional counseling, therapy, and sometimes medication. Therapy can help your loved one identify negative thoughts and feelings that fuel the disordered eating behaviors and replace them with healthy ones. Techniques may include cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, and interpersonal psychotherapy.
Additionally, outpatient treatment provides a more flexible option than inpatient care, allowing your loved one to continue to work and attend school while receiving eating disorder support. In addition, HPA/LiveWell offers online group therapy for people of all ages and stages of recovery from all over the country. These groups offer a safe space to share individual struggles and successes with others who truly “get it”. Project HEAL is also able to provide one-time cash assistance awards for tertiary costs related to eating disorder treatment, including minimal insurance deductibles needed to unlock coverage for a treatment stay.