How To Recover From Anorexia Nervosa |
As terrifying as death from complications of Anorexia Nervosa are, sometimes it's difficult for the patient and the patient's family to comprehend that recovery is indeed possible. For treatment to be successful, the anorexic patient has a great many emotional and physical hurdles to cross, the first of which is denial that they have the disorder and that eventually, someday, they will die from it. It must be noted, however, that sometimes an anorexic comes to the point of no return. In the final stages or anorexia, not even skilled medical and mental health professionals can save the patient's life; it's simply too late.
Thus, it's vitally important to intervene with an anorexic patient before the disorder reaches its irreversible final stages. Mid to late stage (but not terminal stage) anorexics have one absolutely essential hurdle to cross: themselves. After years of self-starvation and brutally excessive exercise, patients have buried themselves deeply in denial that they have the disorder or, if they admit that they do, that somehow they won't die because of it. What has happened to other anorexics won't happen to them. This is the most frustrating and challenging time for treatment professionals and family members; no amount of incontrovertible medical proof will convince them that they're not starving themselves to death. Nor do they believe what the mirror shows them about their bodies.
No amount of begging, chastising or even praying will make an anorexic believe what everyone else knows to be true.
As with alcoholics or drug addicts, the anorexic has to want to make a change. If anorexics don't have the will to live, they will not do anything to make changes in their current situation, no matter how much their loved ones and doctors want them to. When and how the will to live returns and why is still very much a mystery. The reasons for a change of heart are completely unknown to anyone besides the anorexic. The patients aren't able to put into words what made them wake up, and really, it doesn't matter how or why that happened, only that the will for change is there.
When a physician and/or a mental health professional recognizes that the anorexic has at last overcome denial, they act very swiftly to save the patient's life before he/she has a change of heart! Intensive hospitalization in a specialized eating disorders unit is the only way to treat anorexia. Despite their protests that they can "do it on my own," they cannot, and will quickly fall back into old starvation habits. A ninety-day stay in the hospital allows the patient to slowly returned to nutritional eating that's rigorously supervised by hospital staff who literally watch everything the patient eats and drinks. No excuse for not eating is tolerated! The patient is weighed daily, and if necessary, fed via IV tubes until they can tolerate solid food. Stretching and walking in the unit is encouraged, but vigorous exercise is not. Patients are watched carefully after meals lest they dart into the bathroom to vomit.
These close restrictions are loosened after the patient has returned to voluntary nutritious eating and can be trusted in the next phase of their recovery which involves intensive, daily individual and group therapy - even family therapy. Through therapy, the patient attempts to understand why they developed anorexia and how they can maintain recovery. These are very delicate issues that involve self-esteem, body image, and peer pressure, even past childhood trauma of abuse and/or neglect. Co-existing conditions such as depression are treated with medication. Imagine: if these painful issues were discussed by the anorexic as an out-patient, he/she would have little or no 24/7 support system and would likely relapse back into self-starvation. In a secure hospital environment, patients have constant mental health care in case of a crisis.
Treatment can be successful only if the patient is willing to do the work to make it so. No one can do the recovery and rehabilitation for the anorexic. The anorexic, like a drug addict or alcoholic, has to remain vigilant for relapse triggers and keep in mind to take it one day at a time in order to remain healthy.
Here are some highly recommended solutions for eating disorders
Quick Tip #1
Its important to learn to identify the different Anorexia Nervosa Symptoms, so it can be prevented |
Quick Tip #2
If she vomits constantly after eating or not eating at all, those are clear signs of Anorexia |
Quick Tip #3
Anorexia is an eating disorder that requires not just medications but psychiatric help |
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