How Are Eating Disorders Treated?

To properly treat an eating disorder, a comprehensive treatment team is needed. Treatment teams are made up of specialists that are well-equipped to handle every aspect of an eating disorder, whether it is emotionally or physically. An example of a treatment team might include:

• A physician
• A psychologist/psychotherapist/social worker
• A dietitian/nutritionist

What Are the Types of Eating Disorders and Their Common Characteristics?

• Anorexia Nervosa
  • Dramatic weight loss, preoccupation with weight, food calories and dieting
  • Resists or is unable to maintain an appropriate body weight
• Bulimia Nervosa
  • Evidence of binge eating
  • Evidence of purging behaviors
• Binge Eating Disorder
  • Reoccurring episodes of binge eating – can be secretive
  • Feelings of disgust, depression or guilt after overeating
• Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)
  • Limited range of foods that becomes narrower over time
  • Picky eating becomes progressively worse
• Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder (OSFED)
  • Encompasses a wide variety of eating disorder behaviors
  • Individual can present with any variety of symptoms
• Unspecified Feeding or Eating Disorder (UFED)
  • Symptoms do not directly align with another disorder
  • UFED label can change once more information is gathered or symptoms change
• Pica
  • Eating substances that are not food and do not provide nutritional value
• Rumination Disorder
  • Repeated regurgitation of food for a period of at least one month
• Orthorexia
  • An obsession with ‘clean’ or ‘healthy’ eating
  • Not formally recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual