Eating disorders are extreme expressions of a range of weight and food issues experienced by both men and women. They include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and compulsive overeating. All are serious emotional problems that can have life-threatening consequences. Some people believe an eating disorder is an addiction and as such can be treated in an addiction treatment program, others believe in psychiatric hospitalization. Either can work.
The defining features of Anorexia Nervosa are an intense and irrational fear of body fat and weight gain, an iron determination to become thinner and thinner, and a misperception of body weight and shape to the extent that the person may feel or see “fat” even when emaciation is clear to others. These psychological characteristics contribute to drastic weight loss and defiant refusal to maintain a healthy weight for height and age. Many that are anorexic may also have a drug addiction as it relates to amphetamine, cocaine, diet pills etc. An addiction treatment program may be the addiction treatment of choice for the drug addiction and then referral to an eating disorder treatment program.
Bulimia Nervosa is characterized by self-perpetuating and self-defeating cycles of binge-eating and purging. During a “binge,” the person consumes a large amount of food in a rapid, automatic, and helpless fashion. This may anesthetize hunger, anger, and other feelings, but it eventually creates physical discomfort and anxiety about weight gain. Thus, the person “purges”the food eaten, usually by inducing vomiting and by resorting to a combination of restrictive dieting, excessive exercising, laxatives, diuretics, cocaine or other drugs. Because of the abuse of these drugs, addiction treatment may be necessary. If addiction treatment is necessary, more from a detox perspective if anything, referral to an appropriate eating disorder treatment program may be appropriate.
