Many of these eating disorder treatment facilities offer specialized care for all types of issues that people find themselves having to deal with.

There are many of these eating disorder treatment centers all over the country so it is important to take your time and do some research on which place you fell will be of the most benefit to yourself or whoever you are looking for that has the eating disorder. But how do you find out about different places? Well, since you are on the internet I would say that you are at the right place to look.

It is estimated that with treatment, about 60% of people with eating disorders fully recover thanks to eating disorder resources; approximately 20% make partial recoveries, and the remaining show little improvement. A number of predictors of chronicity have been determined: co-morbidity (the presence of affective or anxiety disorders, substance abuse, etc.); a Body Mass Index of less than 13.0 at referral (Hebebrand et al, 1997); delayed diagnosis and treatment (i.e., the longer abnormal eating behaviors persist, the more difficult it is to overcome the disorder and its effects on the body); high level of purging behavior; disturbances in family relationships; compulsive exercise; and social isolation prior to onset (Costin, 1999). Also, if someone is discharged from an inpatient program below 90% of her normal weight, the risk of relapse jumps tenfold (Chase, 1999).

In general, clients with anorexia have a reputation for being “treatment resistant.” The experiences of chronic patients give insight to one reason for that phenomenon, that of the treatment itself. Chronic anorexic women report more negative experiences with treatment, especially behavior therapy, tube feeding, and frightening hospitalizations, leading many to lose faith in any further treatment (Noordenbos et al, 1998). Noted specialist in anorexia, Hilde Bruch, related that many of her clients had previously been “exposed to numerous contradictory treatment plans” (1988). And Steven Levenkron argues that, “Someone who has been repeatedly exposed to the standard accepted treatments for anorexia nervosa is not likely to respond to yet another exposure to them” (2000).

In addition to a general lack of trust in treatment on the part of the chronic anorexic woman, there are a number of other factors that may serve as barriers to effective counseling. Primary among them is poor insurance coverage for mental illness. Full recovery from anorexia is estimated to take 57-79 months of treatment (Strober et al, 1997). Inpatient or residential stays of several months are often needed to combat severe anorexia, followed by intensive outpatient therapy. Yet insurers often cut off coverage, many providing a maximum of 30 inpatient days and 20 outpatient visits per year. Other problems include a lack of communication between family members, therapists, psychiatrists, and other treatment providers of chronic patients (Jack, 2000) and the mechanism by which the physical consequences of the eating disorder may serve to perpetuate the disorder (Treasure and Szmukler, 1995).

Levenkron details how the chronicity itself and enabling factors add to the difficulty of successfully treating the adult chronic anorexic woman. Of one client, he says, “…The sheer length of time Graham had lived a life consisting of no responsibility, no connection to others, made her eating disorder the only structure in her life that she was organized around and could depend on.” Essentially, when symptomatic thinking and acting become ingrained and natural to a woman, they stop being an illness and evolve into her sense of identity. Also, significant others often come to adjust to and accept the woman’s illness rather than continuing what seems to be ineffective interference. In contrast to the agitation her family might have gone through during the first few years of a woman’s anorexia, “those around her all used up and she’s still alive.”

Unfortunately, however, without intervention, that may not be true for long. Anorexia has a higher mortality rate than that of any other psychiatric disorder. There are many physical consequences that can result from extended states of malnutrition and emaciation, which intensify over time. Osteoporosis, for instance, is a relatively common complication in long-term anorexia, and appears to persist after weight gain and recovery (Serpell and Treasure, 1997). More significantly, without treatment, up to 20% of people with eating disorders will die from the effects of their illness, most commonly from organ failure (heart, liver, kidney) or suicide. With treatment that number falls to 2-3%. The mortality rate for anorexia is 5.6% per decade, meaning that for each decade of chronic anorexia, sufferers face an addition 5.6% risk of dying from it.

The research results for current treatment methods for anorexia, mainly focused on cognitive-behavioral therapy, remain disappointing. Relatively little research has been devoted to developing improved methods for its treatment. (APA) Results for older and more chronic patients are generally only mentioned in passing, and no treatment for chronic forms of eating disorders has proved to be effective in the research literature (Treasure, 1991). Clinical literature, meanwhile, focuses more on psychodynamic and feminist oriented psychotherapy, quite distinct from the types of treatment chronic patients indicate have failed them, and expresses a significantly more positive outlook on the prospect of full recovery. “A special requirement for the adult, long-term patient is a therapeutic relationship that has a personal connection that exceeds previous therapies.” (Levenkron, 2000)

References

Bruch, H. (1988). Conversations with anorexics: A compassionate and hopeful journey through the therapeutic process. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, Inc.

Chase, M. (1999). Insurers are obstacles for anorexics. The Kansas City Star.

“www.kcstar.com/item/pages/moneywise.pat,
business/30dadac.325,.html.”

Chronic diseases—Research agenda for psychosocial and behavioral factors in women’s health. American Psychological Association Public Interest Directorate. “www.apa.org/pi/wpo/chronic.html”.

Costin, C. (1999). The eating disorder sourcebook. Los Angeles: Lowell House.

Hebebrand, J., Himmelman, G., Herzog, W., Herpertz, & Dahlmann, B. M. (1997). Prediction of low body weight at long-term follow-up in acute anorexia nervosa by low body weight at referral. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154 (4), 566-569.

Hsu, L. K. G. (1996). Outcome of early onset anorexia nervosa: What do we know? Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 25 (4), 563-568.

Jack, S. M. (2000). The social construction of chronic anorexia nervosa: A qualitative investigation of patients, parents, therapists, and psychiatrists. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences, 60 (9-A), 3543

Levenkron, S. (2000). Anatomy of anorexia. New York: W. W. Norton & Company

Mynors-Wallis, L., Treasure, J., & Chee, D. (1992). Life events and anorexia nervosa: Differences between early and late onset cases. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 11 (4), 369-375.

Noordenbos, G., Jacobs, M. E., & Hertzberger, E. (1998). Chronic eating disorders: The patients’ view of their treatment history. Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention, 6 (3), 217-223.

Serpell, L., & Treasure, J. (1997). Osteoporosis—A serious health risk in chronic anorexia nervosa. European Eating Disorders Review, 5 (3), 149-157.

Strober, M., Freeman, R., & Morrell, W. (1997). The long-term course of severe anorexia nervosa in adolescents: Survival analysis of recovery, relapse, and outcome predictors over 10-15 years in a prospective study. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 22 (4), 339-360

Treasure, J. (1991). Long-term management of eating disorders. International Review of Psychiatry, 3 (1), 43-58.

Treasure, J. & Szmukler, G. I. (1995). Medical complications of chronic anorexia nervosa. In G. I. Szmukler & C. Dare (Eds.), Handbook of eating disorders: Theory, treatment, and research (pp. 197-220). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Normative Social Influence

It is often said that Calvin Klein and Hollywood are the culprits and the emaciated waif look propagated by the media has caused many women to tale-spin into the world of an eating disorder. While the images of child-like women have obviously contributed to an increased obsession to be thin, it is not quite so simple.

Historically and across all cultures men are judged more for what they do and women for how they look. Women have always been taught that their value is associated with their appearance and their bodies. Yet it is in progressive Western societies like the United States, supposedly the most progressive and egalitarian in regards to gender roles, that the ideal female body type is most limiting. It seems that the more active and independent women are allowed to be in a given culture, the less space they are supposed to take up.

Successful as the women’s movement in the United States has been in giving women greater opportunity and rights in the larger society, it has done very little in alleviating the pressure on women to be the beautiful guardians of the realm of home and relationships. Rather a new ideal has emerged, that of the “superwoman,” who is warm, nurturing, and attractive as well as competitive, accomplished, and successful eating disorder resources.

Prejudice

Concurrent with the emergence of the new model of the perfect women has been an increase in the national obsession with weight and food. A high percentage of American culture falls into one of two categories: the couch potato who super-sizes their daily meal from McDonald’s or the exercise fanatic with a kitchen full of fat-free (and taste-free) foods. Neither extreme is healthy yet the associations we make with each of these stereotypes make the latter clearly preferable. Weight is perhaps the last acceptable means of discrimination, both global and interpersonal, in the age of political correctness. On the rare occasion an overweight character appears in the movies or on television, they are typically portrayed as lazy, without friends, or criminal, while the thin women and muscle-defined men are successful, popular, sexy, and powerful. An on-air personality who makes a racist, sexist, or otherwise bigoted comment will likely lose their job, yet everyone laughs at Letterman and Leno’s fat jokes, with the exception of course of their intended targets.

Perceived Control

The pressure on adolescents is tremendous. The problems of drugs, sexual activity, and violence are epidemic and do not discriminate on any socioeconomic lines. A supportive family can help a young person deal with these issues and other stresses of hectic modern life, but broken and otherwise dysfunctional family environments seem to be the norm rather than the exception. Yet despite living in a world over which they may feel they have little control, young women are expected not only to excel socially, academically, athletically, etc. but also to do so with feminine grace and selflessness. And they are bombarded with the cultural message that only thin people are truly successful.

Women do not develop eating disorders because of a superficial desire to look like Kate Moss. Both of these phenomena are actually symptoms of the same problem, a culture, embodied by fathers, lovers, and other male family members, friends and acquaintances, that tells a woman that she can “have it all,” with the inherent threat that failing to conform to expectations of perfection will result in her having nothing. A young female without sufficient social support will likely not feel empowered to fight this double standard in a constructive manner. Consequently, she will all too often turn to the one thing she feels that she can control-food.

Conform and Resist

Eating disorders are unique in that they are an expression of both conformity to and rejection of social norms. Dieting is culturally acceptable, often expected. Yet when taken to the extreme, people are appalled. Eating disorders are not commonly found in poverty, where everyone is hungry, because they don’t say anything. Whereas in American culture, a woman starving herself or binging and purging is sending out a clear, if complicated, message of passive defiance both to the society at large and the individuals in her life: You want me to be perfect/the best/thin? Fine. But be careful what you wish for…