Anorexia nervosa is an emotional disorder so complex that it is often a chronic condition. You may spend years battling the desire to stay well below a healthy weight in an attempt to reach your goal of perfection and achieve a feeling of self-worth. While overcoming this disorder is difficult, it is not impossible. You must learn to love yourself in a healthy way and be willing to commit to healthy eating habits.
Identification
By all appearances, anorexia nervosa is about nutrition, or lack thereof. Its foundation, however, are the feelings you cannot cope with, using food as your outlet. Your goal is to achieve perfection: be the perfect child, get perfect grades or be the perfect community member. You equate being thin with perfection and focus all your attention on your weight. No matter how thin you are, it's not good enough -- you must lose 10 more lbs. You have an unrealistic body image and refuse to stay at a healthy weight. As this desire to be thin grows, so too does your fear of gaining weight. It forces you to starve yourself, lie about having eaten or force yourself to vomit after eating to avoid weight gain. This is the face of anorexia.
Symptoms
Before you can seek help, you must recognize the symptoms. For some this means friends and family members are the people to recognize your symptoms. The most obvious sign for family members is your tendency to hide your eating habits. If they ask you why you aren't eating enough food, or any food at all, you make excuses. A more obvious sign is dieting even though you are thin or thinner than you should be. Anorexia wreaks havoc with your physical appearance as well. You experience rapid weight-loss, spend hours in front of the mirror criticizing your body and deny being too thin, even if you weigh 90 lbs.
Getting Help
You have to admit you have a problem before any treatment will work. You must recognize that your effort to constantly lose weight is out of control and is causing permanent physical and emotional damage. Talk to a trusted friend or family member, and admit your problem to them. No matter how ashamed you might feel, you need support. Your loved ones can help you find a professional or group of professionals to treat your disorder.
Dietary Treatment
Your treatment team is composed of medical doctors, dietitians and psychologists. The first goal is to get you back to a healthy weight. This may begin in the hospital, under the supervision of your doctor, who will monitor your vital signs and level of hydration. If your condition is severe, you may require a feeding tube that goes in your nose and into your stomach. This replenishes lost vitamins, minerals and nutrients necessary to stabilize your health. A dietitian will then explain what your daily caloric intake should be, teach you what healthy eating is and devise meal plans for you to follow.
Additional Treatment
Counseling must accompany the dietary treatment; if you do not resolve the emotional issues causing your disorder, you will never learn to live with anorexia. You may undergo individual therapy, which increases your self-esteem while providing you with coping techniques when moments of negative emotions strike. Family therapy ensures that family members help you maintain your healthy-eating plan. It also serves to resolve any family issues that may be contributing to your disorder. Group therapy can be helpful, but only when moderated by a mental health professional. It allows you to connect with others who understand your disorder and the emotions you experience.
