All About Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia recovery centers

Anorexia is a complex illness characterized by excessive dieting, a distorted body image and severe weight loss. Individuals with anorexia sometimes begin with dieting and a desire to be thin and attractive, but they find they cannot stop. Even when grossly underweight, many sufferers still consider themselves “fat” and starve themselves, purge after eating or even resort to diuretic drugs to control their weight.

For most people, the illness is an expression of unresolved psychological conflict. That conflict may be due to traumatic life experiences such as physical or sexual abuse or an accumulation of other traumatic experiences that leave them feeling out of control or defective.

Common behavioral patterns emerge, including:

  • Food rituals, calorie counting, rigid rules and schedules
  • Sleep disturbances, including insomnia and early morning awakening
  • Frequent weighing and layering of clothes
  • Social withdrawal, focus on job and/or schoolwork
  • Self-hatred and feeling of unworthiness
Emotional and cognitive characteristics include:

  • Perfectionistic: thinnest, smartest, neatest, etc., all or nothing thinking
  • Little to no motivation for help, desire to solve problems alone
  • Depression, low sense of self-worth
  • Self-absorbed and non-social, isolation from others, irritable
  • Difficulty thinking clearly, potential severe cognitive deficits due to malnourishment

Our Approach to Addressing Anorexia

Center for Change offers the most comprehensive therapy treatment for anorexia available, focusing on healing the whole person – mind, body and spirit. Our Anorexia Treatment program features dietary and nutritional therapies that help individuals understand an intuitive approach to eating that will help them achieve long-term recovery. Working with a team of compassionate anorexia experts, our clients receive one-on-one, family and group therapy, individual nutritional counseling, medical care and monitoring, medication management and a variety of experiential and expressive therapies — all focused on the unique needs of the individual.