Home Health Center
Bulimia
Bulimia - Treatments
Treatment for Bulimia
Treatment for bulimia may involve multiple approaches such as psychotherapy, counseling and antidepressant medication. Long term treatment of bulimia requires the involvement of your friends, family, support group, your primary care physician and a nutritionist or dietician qualified to work with patients of eating disorders.
- Psychotherapy: Psychotherapy treatment for bulimia may address the root of the eating disorder. This may include talking to your mental health provider through individual talk therapy, group therapy, psychosocial therapy and so on. Counseling helps to rid some of the stigma or guilt attached with binge purge cycles and helps the patient to understand the trigger better. Another psychotherapy approach called cognitive behavioral therapy involves replacing negative emotions and attitudes towards food with positive and healthy ways of dealing with situations. For example, patients suffering from bulimia often use dieting (or starving) as a way to purge. In reality, extreme dieting often makes one lose self-control and triggers binging.
- Antidepressants: Your doctor may prescribe antidepressant medication for symptoms of bulimia as well as other mental disorders such as depression, anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder. It is important to take any medication under the strict supervision of your doctor and follow the recommended dosage instructions.
- Nutritional Therapy: Along with psychotherapy and medication, bulimia patients may also need to undergo nutrition education. Dieticians and nutritionists qualified to work with patients suffering from eating disorders can help you prepare a healthy diet. Healthy foods, healthy body weight management and positive body image- these are some of the areas reinforced through nutrition education.
- Hospitalization: In severe cases of bulimia and related physical or mental damage, patients may need to undergo hospitalization.
References
- Bulimia nervosa in overweight and normal-weight women Masheb, Robin / White, Marney A., Comprehensive Psychiatry, 53 (2), p.181-186, Feb 2012
- A Review Of The Definitions Of Outcome Used In The Treatment Of Bulimia Nervosa Williams, Sarah E. / Watts, Thomas K.O. / Wade, Tracey D., Clinical Psychology Review, In Press, Accepted Manuscript,Feb 2012