Nearly 30 million people currently have eating disorders. Men were experiencing these disorders at a rate of 1.5% in the United States from 2001 to 2004, but women were diagnosed with these disorders at a rate of 3.8%. The most commonly known eating disorders are "anorexia nervosa," "binge eating" and "bulimia nervosa." Anorexia nervosa is a disorder with which the sufferer will resort to extreme dieting and exercising for the purpose of losing weight. Needless to say, these people take things much too far. Binge eating is when someone eats an extreme amount of food in one meal, and bulimia nervosa is characterized by binging and then purging and taking laxatives. They also spend too much time exercising and fasting.
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How to find eating disorder therapy near me?
BetterHelp is a platform that offers online therapy for eating disorders. To sign up for this platform, you must take a questionnaire. This will give you the opportunity to explain the problem you are having and the goals that you wish to accomplish. Then, the system’s algorithm will find the best therapist with experience helping people overcome your particular issues.
Eating disorders respond well to cognitive behavioral therapy. This treatment addresses the behaviors that your disorder causes you to perform. It also helps you change the thoughts and feelings that contribute to your disordered eating. During treatment, you will learn how to eat normally again. Family therapy is also a good idea for you if you have an eating disorder. Family therapy recruits your family members to be your support while you are learning to have a better relationship with food. Family members often feel helpless when another member is trapped with an eating disorder, but family therapy teaches them how they can be the most effective and positive helpers in this situation.
Lastly, group therapy is another excellent option for people experiencing eating disorders. Group therapy offers you the chance to take part in therapy sessions with other people experiencing the same issue. Seeing that other people also experience the same types of problems that you are experiencing will be a great help to you. You will not feel as if you are alone in this struggle, and all of the members of the group will have understanding ears for you to tell all of your intimate secrets. The difference between your group and other people is that you will not have to be ashamed or embarrassed to admit your thoughts and behaviors because the other members in the group also have those same thoughts and behaviors.
What are eating disorders?
Behaviors characterize eating disorders, and these eating behaviors are very disturbed and persistent. The person’s distressing thoughts and uncontrollable emotions are also associated with these conditions. People experiencing eating disorders are often preoccupied with food or their weight. They may be very anxious about having to eat food because they are overly concerned about the thought of gaining weight.
People with eating disorders often engage in disordered eating. It may be an extremely restrictive diet and exercising compulsively. It may also mean binge eating and using laxatives and vomiting to keep from gaining too much weight from the binging. The nature of the eating disorder is something like an addiction to substances.
What can you do to overcome eating disorders?
People can recover from eating disorders, but it isn’t easy. As a matter of fact, the first step is the hardest step to take, but if you don’t take that step, you cannot get on the road to recovery. Thoughts and beliefs keep people from finding their way to recovery, but you can begin to believe that you are a worthy human being no matter how much you weigh.
After you come to the realization listed above, you can begin to learn to think different thoughts and have new beliefs. This means that you must learn new ways of dealing with your pain. You must also move beyond the focus on your weight, your eating habits and your body image. This is possible, and you can do it with the help of a professional.
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What type of online treatment is available for eating disorders?
Eating disorders respond well to dialectical behavior therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy.
What is dialectical behavior therapy?
Dialectical behavior therapy teaches clients new skills that lead them away from the disordered thoughts and behaviors of their eating disorders. This therapy focuses on the following therapeutic skills:
- Mindfulness: Your therapist helps you accept the situation you are in at the present moment and teaches you how to always be in the present moment.
- Distress Tolerance: Your therapist helps you tolerate distressing experiences, thoughts and negative emotions. The purpose is to stop you from running from the problem.
- Emotion Regulation: As you experience difficult emotions, your manner of handling those emotions often leads to the destructive behaviors of your eating disorder. Your therapist teaches you to manage these emotions or change them to less distressing emotions so that they do not wreak havoc in your life.
- Interpersonal Effectiveness: Your therapist teaches you how to assert yourself in a way that demonstrates the respect you have for yourself. You learn to be more assertive, and in the process, you will strengthen your relationships.
Dialectical behavior therapy has been proven to work well for those experiencing eating disorders. Your therapist’s job will be to make sure that you remain motivated to overcome your eating disorder and help you apply your new skills to your everyday life. As you may have times when obstacles will present themselves while you are moving forward in your therapy, your therapist will help you get past them.
Cognitive behavioral therapy for the online treatment of eating disorders.
Cognitive behavioral therapy requires the client and the therapist to be very active during therapy sessions. You will learn a lot during your sessions, including how to predict that the symptoms of your disorder are going to present themselves. In order to do this, you will be required to keep a journal that lists your activities. Some activities you may focus on might be binging, purging and vomiting, but after every event, you will need to write down the trigger that led to these actions. Your therapist will also teach you how to eat properly again. You will learn to space your meals out three or four hours so that you are eating regularly again.
Your therapist will also work on your thought patterns. One thing you will learn is how to think of your symptoms in a different light. Once you can do this, your symptoms will not be able to exert as much pressure over you to eat in a disordered manner. In addition to that, your therapist will help you change your self-destructive thought patterns into thoughts that are more positive and helpful. The result will be that you will feel as if you are in control of your universe, and you will feel better about yourself.
Most importantly, your therapist will show you how to handle your problems in a more constructive manner.
Does online therapy work for eating disorders?
Researchers conducted several studies on online therapy and their efficacy for treating eating disorders, and they found that online therapy is effective for this purpose. They did, however, state that recovery takes longer when therapy is held online. Although this may be the case, you may be in an area that is far away from a treatment center. You may be forced to be on a waiting list for a treatment program. If either of these scenarios is true for you, online therapy would be a better option than not having any therapy. Having to wait for therapy while you are in the middle of an eating disorder might be dangerous, so it would be better to have therapy online than to not have therapy at all.
Online therapy may be preferable to traditional therapy for several reasons. For example, you can meet with your therapist very easily. Remaining at home and having therapy on your couch is much more comfortable than traveling to an office on the crowded roads. Online therapy is also very convenient because you can have your session while you are at work. All you need to do is find a private place for the encounter. Video conferencing is also more comfortable for people than sitting down with someone in his or her office.
How can Findyourtherapy.org help me overcome my eating disorder?
Findyourtherapy can help you overcome your eating disorder by helping you compare different online therapies. Different online therapists will have the ability to offer several types of therapeutic services that you can take part in with live chats, video or phone conferencing.
Conclusion: Online therapy for the treatment of eating disorders.
Therapy for the treatment of eating disorders isn’t always easy to find because these programs are so popular. You may be required to remain on a waiting list before you can begin treatment, but this isn’t in your best interests. You can find treatment for your eating disorder now, and you can begin your treatment online. It will be private, and you will be able to easily afford it.
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