Eating disorders: how are they approached from psychotherapy?

Eating disorders are among the most severe psychological disorders.

In fact, they can lead to death either through wear and tear on the body or through a heart collapse due to a drop in potassium in the body. body by vomiting or by the relationship of these disorders with suicide attempts, relatively common in people who develop.

That is why, in the face of disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and the like, it is important to go to therapy as soon as possible by the hand of qualified professionals. In this article we will see how you work in psychotherapy to manage the symptoms of eating disorders and overcome them.

• Related article: "Bulimia nervosa: binge eating and vomiting disorder"

What are Eating Disorders?

Known as Eating Disorders (Eating Disorders), also called eating disorders, are psychological alterations in which the person who develops them adopts pathological ways of eating. Within this category we mainly find these TCAs.

1. Bulimia

In bulimia nervosa, the person experiences irrepressible urges to binge food

, after which they perform behaviors to try to compensate for that intake, such as vomiting or exercising to burn at least part of those extra calories.

• You may be interested: "Anorexia nervosa: symptoms, causes and treatment"

2. Anorexy

People with anorexia perceive that they have an overweight problem that haunts themTherefore, they avoid as much as possible the food intakes that their body needs.

3. Binge eating disorder

This is an eating disorder similar to bulimia, but with the difference that after bingeing they are not carried out purge or compensation behaviors (except to carry out a more restrictive or rigid diet, thus building the following binge).

4. Other disorders associated with obesity

There are other psychological problems related to eating, such as the tendency to eat a lot on a regular basis or even the perception that you are too thin when you really are not. However, in these cases there is less consensus about whether these phenomena constitute. alterations comparable to the Eating Disorders that we have seen so far.

Treatment of eating disorders in psychotherapy

Let's now look at the key ideas that help to understand how to intervene in Eating Disorders from psychotherapy.

1. Accompaniment of the therapeutic process

The psychologists we address problems that arise from the very fact of being aware that you have a disorder and from the day-to-day changes experienced by those who treat this problem. For example, fears and insecurities related to the use of psychoactive drugs and new foods and amounts to which it is necessary to adapt.

2. Adoption of healthier habits

In psychotherapy they propose strategies to adopt new habits that make it easier to eat a healthy diet. It is not a question of learning to cook certain dishes, but of implementing behaviors that help to have a relationship healthy eating as opposed to compensatory rituals (running to lose weight, vomiting, etc.).

3. Learn to recognize emotions

Many times, people with certain eating disorders try to nullify an unpleasant emotional state through the intake of food that they feel like. So, in psychotherapy they are helped to be more skilled at correctly identifying their emotions and their psychological states in general, something that allows to apply suitable solutions for those forms of discomfort, instead of. "cover" them with food without being really hungry.

4. Learn to recognize behavioral patterns

Another task of psychologists is to help patients better understand their behavior styles on a day-to-day basis. To do this, they are encouraged to prepare self-records on a regular basis, and are given the keys to learn to detect trends in the patterns of thought and behavior that they note and describing.

5. Set goals and commit to improvement

In psychotherapy it encourages patients to be motivated to meet the goals that will lead them to overcome their disorder. In addition, they are taught to adopt the proper predisposition to reach goals without getting discouraged and throwing in the towel.

6. Suicidal behavior prevention

Suicide attempts are a much more common phenomenon among ED patients than among the rest of the population, which does not mean that most of these people will try to remove the lifetime. That is why in therapy these issues are explored to act in time and propose alternatives.

7. Prevention and intervention of other problems

Eating disorders favor the appearance of other psychological disorders or are often the cause of them, such as trauma, depression, addictions, or generalized anxiety.

That is why, in addition to preventing the appearance of these, improving the mental health of the patient by intervening in their Eating Disorder, the Psychologists must work on the signs of other possible behavioral alterations that are harmful to the person and that do not have to do directly with the feeding. There is much more than we think, underneath that visible part associated with food, in an eating disorder.

Are you looking for professional psychological support?

If you think you may be experiencing symptoms associated with an eating disorder and would like to attend psychotherapy, we invite you to contact us. On the Miguel Ángel Psychology and Psychotherapy Center We have a team with decades of experience helping people with these types of problems, both in online therapy and in face-to-face therapy at our facilities in Bilbao. You will find more information about us at this page.