The Correlation Between Mental Illnesses and Eating Disorders

Abstract

Is there a correlation between mental illnesses and eating disorders? Eating disorders are not a topic a lot of people talk about. Usually, if it is talked about it is short and not a lot of information is given. With anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating goes into the clinical description, theories of etiology, diagnostic signs, and treatment. For example, antidepressants, antipsychotics, and appetite stimulants are all medications that can help the treatment strategy (Williamson et al., 2004). Eating disorders treatments undergo psychotherapy, biological, and cognitive-behavioral therapy (Williamson et al., 2004). Psychotherapy is where the problems are addressed, and helped identified . Biological therapy is where the genetics are examined to contributing the development of eating disorders. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is where the actual fear of the patient’s body image is challenged into a rational mind set to eating and weight (William et al., 2004). The model used for the initial assessment was inpatient where the BMI is measured below 17, medical problems, failure of treatments; partial hospitalization, where BMI is between 17-19, no medical or psychiatric issues, rapid weight lost; intensive outpatient, where BMI is lower than 19, motivation for treatment, and social support; and outpatient treatment, where there is motivation to prevent relapse, and BMI is above 19 (Williamson et al., 2004). Anorexia nervosa is best treated with medical stabilization, bulimia nervosa is best treated with outpatient therapy, and binge eating disorder is best treated by pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy treatments (William et al., 2004).