Eating Disorder

How to Treat Eating Disorders

My daughter Kim has bulimia nervosa. During her teenage years, she had anorexia nervosa, although, over the past few years, she’s had increasing difficulty with binge eating and some episodes of restrictive eating. She has been able to hold down a full-time job for six months and has recently started seeing a young man in a new relationship.

Kim wants some help to deal with her eating disorder, frustrated that she is still being controlled by food. She has been seeing a counselor for some months to work through some family relationship problems. However, when she went to her own doctor to discuss her needs and her frustration around her lack of control over food and her eating behavior, her doctor told her that she did not have a serious problem and that all she had to do was eat.

Kim was obviously very upset by what she had been told. She felt that her doctor had not listened to her and dismissed her as a weak and silly person. Her self-esteem had taken a nose-dive. She explained that it had taken her some time to work up the courage to tell her doctor her problems. After this initial appointment, Kim was seen consistently by the physician and was referred to a dietitian and a psychologist skilled in cognitive behavior therapy – because it was felt that Kim was at the stage where she really wanted to change her behaviors though she needed some specific strategies to facilitate this change. Kim has been doing great in therapy and has been maintaining a healthier lifestyle.
Kim’s Mom — Boca Raton