Treatment for Binge Eating Disorder - Finding Help

Did you know that fully one third of the obese population is entitled to specialized treatment options?

Binge Eating Disorder (BED), was just recently officially entered into the diagnostic manual used by the behavioral sciences (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). This could entitle about one third of the obese population to specialized help and treatment for Binge Eating Disorder.

Regardless of body weight, any person with Binge Eating Disorder is entitled to receive any segment of the specialized mental health services previously reserved only for those diagnosed with Anorexia and Bulimia.

Treatment for Binge Eating Disorder includes individual psychotherapy, medication management, group therapy, in-patient mental health services, and partial hospitalizations programs.

Most importantly, the services are likely to be third party reimbursable since Binge Eating Disorder is now acknowledged as a legitimate psychiatric diagnostic category.

Treatment

A competent medical professional is sometimes the only person who can sufficiently emphasize the medical consequences of eating disordered behavior.

As a psychologist, I can say these things over and over, but, in response the patient can say things like "Well what does she know, she is just a psychologist" or "She's just trying to scare me, I'll wait and see what my doctors says". To that I commend them for being so frank, and then get on the phone with their doctor. The importance of finding a trusted medical professional cannot be underscored sufficiently.

Educating the patient about what tests are "concerning" is sometimes effective.

Blood levels need to be outside of a specific range in order to be deemed clinically significant. Many eating disordered sufferers may not meet the criterion for full blown anemia, but their blood levels indicate that this is certainly an impending possibility (i.e., their blood levels are approaching the clinically significant range). Their bilirubin and albumin levels fail to indicate liver disease, but the patient's levels are almost outside of the normal range. I feel that this is important information for the Eating Disordered patient to know.

HIPPA laws mandate that the medical professional provide each client a copy of any part of their medical chart, upon request, including blood work results.

These results are relatively easy to read and with the help of websites such as http://www.nlm.nih. gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003642.htm you can gain a good understanding about what exactly is going on in your body metabolically.

Keep in mind that the only professional that can offer an interpretation of these results is a person trained as a medical professional (e.g., M.D., P.A., R.N., & L.P.N.) Professionals like myself cannot offer interpretations about the blood work results, but can encourage the patient to receive a copy of the results and attempt to educate themselves about it's meaning.