There is no standardized method for treating eating disorders “is the best treatment that gives results.”
The important thing is that the program is comprehensive, combining psychotherapy and nutrition therapy counseling and assistance, if necessary, specialized medical care

1. Individual psychotherapy: perhaps the most important aspect of therapy is to develop a warm relationship between patient and therapist.

People affected often find it difficult to trust others. You need a high degree of confidence by the patient to trust the therapist. The patient must abandon their fears and begin to develop normal eating habits.

2. Traditional psychotherapy: The media in this psychotherapy encourage the patient to reflect on his childhood dreams and unexpressed feelings for, thereby acquiring a new perception of their current behavior.

Recognizing the role of these subliminal influences, the patient will acquire a new perception of their actions and change.

This kind of therapy is better as an accessory to other methods. Today, psychologists know that knowledge about the roots of a person’s behavior, will not you change this behavior unless you change the eating habits of the patient. Many of them spend years in traditional therapy without ever revealing that they have a disorder.

Moreover, as the patient gains control of the diet, traditional psychotherapy can help you identify and manage some of the feelings that contribute to the disorder.

3. Behavior Modification: This form of therapy completely ignores the underlying feelings and focuses only on changing behavior. The behavior modification works on a principle: to reinforce a desired behavior through rewards and punish or ignore unwanted behavior.

This form of therapy works best when the patient is admitted to the hospital, where staff can answer incentives such as TV or excursions, …

When first applied this method gave good results, but unfortunately were only temporarily. The patients found the hospital stay so unpleasant that performed the desired behavior is only enough to be discharged and once out, they returned to their old ways.

4. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) combines the best aspects of traditional psychotherapy and behavior modification.

This method requires knowledge and challenge self-destructive behaviors and thoughts, followed by appropriate changes in behavior.

This therapy involves the following steps:

* Reinforce knowledge of the patient, their own thinking patterns.
* Teach him to recognize the connection between certain feelings, self-destructive thoughts and behavior disordered eating.
* Replace the erroneous beliefs more appropriate ideas.
* Gradually changing the fundamental assumptions that underlie the development of eating disorders.

It is often assumed “mistaken beliefs” at one time or another, the difference is that for a patient with anorexia are more extreme these beliefs. Some of these thoughts are typical:

- Thinking black or white / all or nothing: it is the conviction that if everything is not perfect, disaster is just around the corner.

- Errors of attribution: for example, when an anorexic bluntly state that has gained a kilo just by eating a pie last week when in reality this weight gain was because I was at the time of the menstrual period, which always made retain fluids.

- Magical Thinking: the minor food indulgence in the “forbidden” means instant obesity. Some people say, “My body does not tolerate carbohydrates, instantly becomes the fat” or “I’m addicted to sugar,” “I taste something sweet and I lose control.” Such ideas attributed unreal and almost magical properties to food and the human body. In these cases, the best look at a book on nutrition or help from an expert in nutrition programs to explain to the patient as the body metabolizes food, in order to help her understand that there is no food called “bad”.

- Customization: Anne, an anorexic for 15 years, spent the holidays in the treatment of eating disorder when she returned to school and had gained 3 or 4 kilos. Her teacher saw her and said, ‘Anne, you’re great!!, Did you have a good summer? “. During the day Anne lamented: “Have I gained so much that people notice?, Did she know that I was subjected to therapy?”. Anne had taken the polite comment from her teacher as a drama, perhaps a reflection of low self-esteem that characterized his illness.

- Exaggeration: Anne’s reaction to her teacher’s comment is an example of overstatement: the tendency to deorbit things. The comment from the teacher became a belief.

Conclusion: CBT has been practiced successfully in patients with bulimia and has been recommended for treating anorexia nervosa but their long-term effect on the latter is not known with certainty.

- Your general physical and mental state.
- The severity of the condition.
- The possible existence of concurrent disorders.
- Their willingness to change.

For the therapy result, doctors and therapists need more information about the person trying to help.

An eating disorder involves all facets of someone’s life:

- Your self-image.
- Your relationship with family and friends.
- Your ability to enforce their rights and make known their needs.

Most of those affected disorder get much of their own image, that is, through it can be seen as special or thin or heavy. (Just imagine how it feels to develop a trait that anyone is particularly proud, only to be told you have to change it).

This is the task that faced by people who face treatment: Assume that the trait of being so proud, is harmful.

For this reason, the assessment must be as detailed as possible so that the therapist can tailor therapy to each patient.Questionnaires: Questionnaires have been developed several specialized to evaluate patients. They help to assess someone’s attitudes toward weight and shape and clarify the psychological characteristics such as personality traits, the degree of social performance and similar problems. The most commonly used are:

* TAIC: Test of attitudes of food intake. It consists of 26 questions designed to measure the presence of disordered eating patterns and whether the patient suffers from anorexia nervosa.

* ELITIC: Test with 91 questions designed to measure a range of psychological symptoms that are thought to contribute to the development and maintenance of eating disorders such as the tendency to thinness, body dissatisfaction, perfectionism …

These questionnaires can not be used in themselves to diagnose eating disorders, what they can do is say who is more likely to have an eating disorder and what can be some of their own problems.

The interview: The interview should help the doctor or therapist to get a clearer idea of the lifestyle of the patient and their current weight, diet history, eating habits …

Other aspects such as attendance at work or class, with a boyfriend or husband or friends and family and foreign occupations are of interest because they shed light on their performance skills, the degree of independence and the extent of their isolation.

The doctor, during the interview, will have great interest in the past and present attempts to be dieting, bingeing and vomiting, use of laxatives, diuretics and diet pills.

Finally, the interviewer will want to know if the person is ready to change and especially if it is ready to receive therapy.

Moreover, it is also important physical assessment. If a woman has a figure emaciated and unable to think clearly or be restless and / or other signs of imbalance, may require immediate hospitalization. A physical impairment so extreme, affect mental functioning and ability to benefit from therapy.