While eating disorders can affect anyone regardless of age, gender, or demographic, there is no doubt that women make up a large amount of eating disorder cases. Due to this, specialized women’s eating disorder recovery centers and programs have formed all around the country. The best eating disorder recovery for women should be focused on the unique challenges they face during recovery.
What to Expect from a Women’s Eating Disorder Recovery Center
There are many ways that gender-specific treatment can help patients. Mental health disorders, including eating disorders, can leave people with little self-confidence or inner strength. Simplifying the treatment process by focusing it on a specific gender can help patients feel more comfortable during treatment. A women’s eating disorder treatment center will help women feel at home while targeting issues specific to them.
For example, many women develop eating disorders when attempting to lose weight or get healthier. What begins as typically positive changes can spiral out of control and become a serious disorder. Western culture and media promote an unrealistic ideal body image for women. This contributes greatly to the number of American women who are dealing with an eating disorder. For this reason, most women’s eating disorder recovery centers focus on reteaching a proper body image.
Women’s Eating Disorder Recovery Treatments
Treatment for eating disorders can come in a variety of formats. For the most part, a therapy regimen for eating disorders will include the following:
- Hospitalization
- Psychotherapy
- Nutritional counseling
- Medication
Hospitalization is usually only necessary for the most severe cases. When a patient’s weight is at dangerous levels, medical supervision is necessary. This is usually followed up by cognitive and behavioral therapies in order to help treat the emotional and logical issues which led to the eating disorders. Nutritional counseling is a vital part of any women’s eating disorder recovery. It helps patients learn positive ways to think about food. Medication, such as antidepressants, may be used to alleviate symptoms that cause the eating disorder. While none of these work as a cure, together they can effectively bring patients back to a healthy state of mind and body.
Eating Disorder Recovery is Possible
Don’t live another day with your eating disorder holding you back. Women’s eating disorder recovery is not only possible, but it is also likely. Modern eating disorder treatment programs have found great success in providing a lasting recovery. Become one of the many happy, healthy women living their lives to the fullest after battling an eating disorder. Make the call today.