Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder and psychological condition marked by extreme self-starvation due to a distorted body image . People with anorexia think they are fat, regardless of how much they weigh, and are obsessive about monitoring their weight and the food they consume. They may regularly refuse to eat or eat only minimal amounts of food.
How Is Anorexia Treated?
Counseling and therapy, coupled with medical attention to health and nutritional needs, are important aspects of treatment. Treating anorexia involves three main goals : restoring weight lost to severe dieting and purging, treating psychological disturbances associated with body image distortions, and achieving long-term remission and rehabilitation or a full recovery.
Psychotherapy is the first-line treatment for anorexia. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and specifically enhanced cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT-E) involves recognizing and changing distorted beliefs that one has about eating and body image in order to ultimately develop normal eating patterns and arrive at a healthy weight. Family therapy is also widely used, as parental support is a key component of treatment and recovery for adolescents.
No medications specifically treat anorexia, but drugs may be prescribed to combat co-occurring problems such as depression and anxiety. Some drugs prompt weight gain, but none are currently approved to treat anorexia because patients rarely participate in these clinical trials and likely wouldn’t take medication without therapy to address underlying beliefs about body image.
People can be treated for eating disorders at an inpatient, residential, or outpatient facility based on their medical and psychological stability. Most people with anorexia are treated as outpatients, but hospital admission may be necessary if outpatient care doesn’t lead to sufficient change, if mental or physical health deteriorates sharply, or if there’s significant risk of self-harm .
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