Body Image and Eating Disorders - Essay Example

"Body Image and Eating Disorders" is an engrossing example of a paper on food and nutrition. Eating disorders are characterized by an ‘out of the ordinary’ intake of food. The intake of food may be at both the extremes; either an excess intake or a deficient intake, whichever the case may be: the general term applied is ‘Eating Disorder’. These disorders can create physical and psychological alterations to a person. The causes, however; remain to be ‘cloudy’ in nature and are poorly understood. The treatments for eating disorders are, however; diverse in nature and a single treatment cannot be applied to all the eating disorders. Hence in order to investigate an effective therapeutic treatment, one must narrow the eating disorders to a singular disorder and then research the best therapeutic treatment/intervention for the specific disorder.

            The specific eating disorder chosen for the purpose of finding the best possible treatment for the disorder is Anorexia nervosa (A.N.). Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by the patient’s denial to maintain his/her health along with a fanatical fear of gaining weight. Anorexia nervosa, being the specific eating disorder that will be researched in detail in order to acquire and present the best possible treatment, is a mental condition in which the patient suffers from a distorted self-image arising due to self-assessment of one’s own body weight and eating habits. A.N. is a very severe mental disorder that is not confined to any specific race, culture or gender. The term Anorexia nervosa, in its most literal form, means: “the lack of desire to eat” (Costin, 1999). The causes of Anorexia nervosa have been researched in-depth and it is believed that ‘weight loss’ caused by surgery, self-inflicted starvation or any other reason resulting in weight loss; act as a triggering factor for Anorexia nervosa (Brandenburg & Andersen, 2007). What remains to be discussed: are the various treatments for Anorexia nervosa and the best amongst them for this specific disorder. 

            The treatments for Anorexia nervosa, as mentioned earlier, are diverse in nature. Some treatments strictly comprise of medication while other treatments apply therapeutic methods to treat Anorexia nervosa. The essay will focus on therapeutic treatments over-medicated treatments and evaluate the pros and cons of each therapeutic treatment in order to signify the most effective treatment for eating disorders.          

            Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a known therapeutic treatment for Anorexia nervosa and what it does fundamentally is the alteration of the human mind and habits through psychological intervention. The result is the patient believes in and accepts what disorder he/she is going through and that is the first step to mental alteration of the self-assessments done by the patient and helps tackle the fear of gaining weight. Clinically the treatment has shown positive results (Berman, Boutelle, & Crow, 2009).

            Another therapeutic treatment for A.N. is the ‘Family Therapy’ which does have a few subtypes but family therapy as a collective: “show that, irrespective of the type of FBT, 75% of patients have a good outcome, 15% an intermediate outcome...” (Lock & Grange, 2005).

            A Maudsley Family Therapy also referred to as Family-Based Treatment, devised by Christopher Dare and colleagues shows a full recovery from Anorexia nervosa in 90% cases even after a four to five year follow up (Grange & Eisler, 2009).

            Off the three discussed therapeutic treatments for Anorexia nervosa, statistically, it must be concluded that the ‘Maudsley Family Therapy’ is the most effective treatment, amongst therapeutic treatments and is recommended for all those suffering from Anorexia nervosa.

The prevention of eating disorders has recently been recognized as an issue of growing concern. Education relevant to eating disorders and their symptoms and causes, along with education about body types, nutrition and the effects of dieting, must be considered a key element in devising a prevention program against eating disorders. Care must be taken regarding the presentation of the preventive education against eating disorders at a university setting so as to be compatible with the normal modes of absorbing knowledge by the youngsters (Meier, Stock, & Kramer, 2006).

Another key element would be the participation of parents in preventive education against eating disorders. Parents can help by developing critical thinking in youngsters to recognize the unrealistic, perfect media images and by developing self-esteem in youngsters and teach them how to make healthy food choices. Moreover, parents can help portray a healthy adult with a healthy diet and exercise routines.

Both the elements discussed are vital for the formulation of any program, however; the role of parents in setting examples for youngsters and developing healthy habits has been found to be most effective.