Find the Best Anorexia Treatment Programs and Dual Diagnosis Rehabs
What Is Anorexia Nervosa?
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by an irrational fear of food as well as extreme, life-threatening weight loss. Patients who suffer from anorexia nervosa have a distorted body image and an excessive, obsessive fear of obesity, even when they are significantly underweight. Patients with anorexia nervosa do not necessarily lose their appetite but rather obsessively control and restrict their food intake.
Anorexia nervosa is classified as a mental illness. It starts most often during a person’s teenage years or young adulthood. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, between 85 and 90% of those who suffer from this dangerous psychological disorder are female.
Signs and Symptoms
When a person suffers from anorexia nervosa, their relationship with food is dramatically altered: they see food as the enemy. Refusing to eat around other people, cutting food in small pieces and rearranging it on the plate in an effort to avoid ingesting it, or straightforward refusal to eat are some of the visible signs of this disorder. Patients often disappear into the bathroom after a meal. In their effort to get thinner, they may resort to excessive exercise, purging, laxatives, diuretics, diet pills, and other methods that may aid weight loss.
While they often refuse to acknowledge their condition, people with anorexia nervosa keep their weight under what is considered safe or normal (usually at 85% or less than normal weight). They also have an intense fear of being fat, an obsessive preoccupation with weight loss, and refuse to see the danger of being underweight. Physical signs, such as severe muscle loss, thinning hair, brittle nails, extreme sensitivity to cold, and yellow, dry skin, are common. Patients may also suffer from bone loss, dry mouth, low blood pressure, and alopecia. Female patients usually experience missing or stopped periods. All other symptoms characteristic to malnutrition may appear in a person with anorexia nervosa.
Beyond the usual complications brought on by malnutrition (slowing metabolism, irregular heartbeat, dizziness, lack of physical strength, chronic fatigue, kidney, liver or thyroid problems, and more), anorexia may alter the way the brain functions, causing slow thinking, an inability to concentrate, and depression. Anorexia is also a deadly disorder: according to James Lock, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University Medical School, 1 person in every 10 with anorexia nervosa dies. There is a high incidence of suicide among people with anorexia.
If left untreated, anorexia nervosa will likely remain a lifelong condition. Since those with the disorder are unable to recognize the problem, let alone find solutions, the best approach is to find professional treatment at an inpatient anorexia treatment facility or, if needed, in a dual diagnosis treatment center.
Dual diagnosis occurs when a mental illness is accompanied by a substance use disorder. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association cited by the National Alliances on Mental Illness, the incidence of co-occurring disorders is quite high: About 50% of those who have a severe mental disorder also suffer from substance abuse. In the specific case of eating disorders, the stakes are equally high, per the National Institutes of Health; approximately half of those with an eating disorder also abuse drug or alcohol.
Part of the reason for this is that mental illnesses put people in compromised states of mind and emotions, making it difficult to make clear-headed decisions. Whether in a quest for acceptance or in an attempt to deal with their own pain, those who have mental health problems are more susceptible to having problems with substances as well.
Treating an eating disorder along with a substance use disorder can be complicated. First, the substance abuse is not always identified, so appropriate treatment cannot be addressed in these cases. Second, even when the condition is recognized, few facilities are prepared to treat both. Often, the patient is treated for only one condition or forced to jump from one type of services to another to address both problems. Third, experience shows that treating only the eating disorder while ignoring the co-occurring condition is not effective. Patients with dual diagnoses have a greater risk of relapse because substance abuse often makes the eating disorder worse and more difficult to treat.
If a person with anorexia nervosa also has abuses substances, it is best to get treatment through an inpatient dual diagnosis program. This type of rehabilitation facility is prepared to treat both the eating disorder and the accompanying condition through a carefully devised integrated treatment plan. The same team of doctors addresses both the eating disorder and the substance abuse in a comprehensive and coordinated fashion, eliminating the gap caused by receiving treatment from different facilities or separate teams.
Integrated treatment recognizes the need to address the conditions gradually, which is why it is devised in stages. Since substance abuse often interacts with the patient’s motivation or ability to respond to treatment, the first stage is detoxification. After this, the issue of anorexia nervosa is addressed on several fronts. Medication may be used for depression, while talk or group therapy is included to work toward a healthier relationship with food and self-image and for patients to feel less isolated. Cognitive behavioral therapy works to change negative thought and behavioral patterns and find healthier ways to deal with stress. Food intake is carefully monitored to make a return to a healthy weight possible. Finally, the patient receives nutritional advice to gain a more insight into their nutritional needs.
Finding the Best Facility
To remove the person from a potentially destructive environment and to control and change daily eating behaviors, it is best to seek treatment in a residential treatment facility. This removes external interferences and any negative influences that led to either the eating disorder or the substance abuse. It also ensures continual emotional support, either from the medical team or from fellow patients, and it offers them an opportunity to have a medically supervised detoxification treatment. The chosen facility must offer psychiatric evaluation to address the underlying cause of both the anorexia nervosa and the substance use disorder. Choose a facility in which medical staff members work with the patient’s close family and friends, helping them to understand the situation and be part of the solution.