EVALUATION: Before anyone start treatment as an inpatient or outpatient, must be evaluated:
- 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.