Eating Disorders Treatment
Patients with EDs may not recognize that they are ill and/or they may be ambivalent about accepting treatment.
This is a symptom of their illness. In addition, patients may minimize, rationalize, or hide ED symptoms and/or behaviors. Their persuasive rationality and competence in other areas of life can disguise the severity of their illness. Outside support and assistance with decision-making will likely be necessary regardless of age.
Parents/guardians are vital to the recognition and treatment of children and adolescents with EDs.
Trust their concerns. Even a single consultation about a child’s eating behavior or weight/shape concerns is a strong predictor of the presence or potential development of an ED.
Current evidence suggests that treatment of EDs is most successful when the family is involved in treatment.
Families should understand that they did not cause the illness
Families also need to understand that their child/family member did not choose to have it an eating disorder, and they cannot just choose to STOP having an eating disorder
This recognition facilitates acceptance of the diagnosis, treatment, referral, interventions, and minimizes undue stigma associated with having the illness.
Monitor physical health including vital signs and laboratory tests.
Low weight patients or those patients who have significant weight loss may present with bradycardia (heart rate < 50 beats per minute). This should not be automatically attributed to an athlete’s heart, even if the patient is an athlete.
Always assess for psychiatric risk, including suicidal and self-harm thoughts, plans and/or intent.
Up to 1/3 of deaths related to EDs are due to suicide.
- Early intervention can help minimize the potentially life long complications of this disorder, and can reduce the severity of this life long battle
- Without treatment—and most patients are not being treated– one-fifth of patients will die prematurely.
- Even with treatment, after 8 to 25 years, the premature mortality rates are 4% for AN patients, 3.9% for bulimia nervosa (BN) patients and 5.2% for those with eating disorders not otherwise specified, or EDNOS.
- Anorexia nervosa has the highest premature fatality rate of any mental illness (Sullivan, 1995).