There are many complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies for eating disorder treatment. They include herbal therapy, massage therapy, homeopathy, psychotherapy and nutrition therapy. Each CAM therapy approaches eating disorders from a different angle. Therefore, they can form part of a multi-pronged approach for eating disorder treatment. Here is a look at each of the CAM therapy in turn:
* Herbal Therapy. There are thousands of herbs that act as stimulants in eating disorder treatment. They may be Indian Ayurvedic herbs, Traditional Chinese Medicine or western herbs. However, before consuming these herbs, you should let your doctor know about your intentions. Herbs can be very powerful and you should not mix your medications with herbs without consulting your doctor. Herbs that may be helpful for eating disorder treatment include Angelica Archangelica, Taraxacum Officinale, Cnicus Benedictus, Fenugreek Seed, Skull Cap, Cinnamon, Roman Chamomile and Gentiana Lutea.
* Massage Therapy. Massage therapy helps to relieve your anxiety levels. Massage stimulates the endorphin levels in your brain. Apparently, endorphins play an active role in appetite control and have pain relieving properties. They are usually released when the body is under extreme stress. Massage causes endorphins to be released during your therapy sessions, thus providing you with much relaxation.
* Homeopathy. Homeopathy is introducing minute doses of a drug that in large doses would cause the disease itself. It aims to stimulate the body in building up natural defences against invaders. Homeopathy can also help to stimulate the brain to relax and de-stress and be used to affect moods. Natural health experts claim that this method is effective. However, this method usually takes a long time.
* Pyschotherapy. As eating disorders are psychological disorders, going for pyschotherapy sessions will help you with coping with your emotional stress and help you address the root of your illness. Your therapist may also recommend behavior therapy, which will then teach you new signals to deal with this emotional stress. You are taught easy relaxation ways for your body and mind.
The more support that you get the higher the chances of recovery there will be for you. Hence family support is greatly beneficial. Group therapy is also helpful so that you have a group of friends that you can relate to. This is vital as you do not feel isolated, especially not during this period of your life.
Next, cognitive therapy and nutritional therapy, can also help in eating disorder treatment. Therapists educate you on the right way to view food and how to eat. To keep track, you will need to maintain a 24-hour diary of what you consume.
* Research studies show that if you suffer from an anorexia eating disorder, then you may have inadequate nutritional reserves. You should consume more vitamins and supplements especially vitamin B complex, including vitamins B2 (riboflavin), niacin and B6 (pyridoxine).
Also, consume antioxidants to help reduce oxidative stress. Antioxidants include Vitamins A, C, and E. They lower the deterioration that your body experiences because of free oxygen radicals. Zinc is great for stimulating appetite, smell and cognitive function and reduces depression.
You will need polyunsaturated fatty acids for the normal development of your body. They include omega-6 fatty acid and omega-3 fatty acid. Hence, you should consume foods such as fish that are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids. You should also try to eat balanced meals, so that your overall health can improve.
Why group therapy can be helpful? Group therapy can be very good for the patient education on important topics that may not be addressed elsewhere, such as nutrition, medical consequences of laxative abuse, or assertiveness techniques.
Educating patients in groups saves individual therapy time for more personalized and deeper issues. Group members also educate each other from their varied experiences in identifying and solving problems.
If you look on this issue from another point of view you can see that when group members start educating each other they can also teach each other not only things that may help them to fight their eating disorder but also the tips and tricks how to be a better anorexic-bulimic and more sneaky.
By sharing with and listening to others, patients learn that they are not alone in their suffering, their feelings and their experience of having an eating disorder. It can enhance a person's self-esteem just to realize that she is neither crazy nor alone.
But from the other side group therapy provides sufferers with a lot of friends who are also anorexic or bulimic. They get to understand each other very well and develop a team spirit attitude. This means if they get better, they will need to leave the group and stay on their own. Often they don't want to leave their friends so they stay the same.
All people benefit from being accepted and cared about, even if they need to make changes. Eating disordered patients often feel or have been rejected by their families and others, and the only support system they feel they can count on is the therapy group.
But it also makes the sufferers depended on being in the group. They feel all right while they are in the group but loose all sense of self-control when they have to go back home.
Often patients have lost or never acquired the necessary trust or interpersonal skills to develop quality relationships. With the help of other group members, patients can learn what their feelings are and how to communicate them. Patients who otherwise have a hard time forming relationships can eventually learn to share, get close, trust, love, and be loved from the group.
But on the other hand by being close to each other patients get too many negative ideas from each other. If a young woman has never heard of drinking ipecac to induce vomiting and learns this technique in group therapy, she may try the technique out herself, leaving the group leader or member feeling responsible.
Often patients deliberately get worse or engage in more symptoms just to get extra attention from each other or the therapist. This kind of competition always exists in eating disorder groups but on many different levels. Sometimes it can get out of control and cause a lot of harm to some members of the group, the most venerable ones.
Eating disorder groups for some people can be the only place where they are understood and accepted but it can become a damaging experience, where members complain that recovery is impossible and there is no hope.
It is destructive for the rest of the sufferers if a member is telling a lot of horrible things she is doing or can not stop doing.
This can have a tendency to put ideas into the subconscious minds of other members and is exactly what is not needed, and is not the least bit helpful to the other sufferers.
To conclude, eating disorder groups can give some positive impact on a sufferer but it can also be quite harmful and unacceptable for many people. The main point of all eating disorder therapy is to make a sufferer become independent and a fully functional individual.
This means the person should be free from any kind of dependency whatsoever, as dependency is what we are trying to get rid of in the first place:unfortunately group therapy does not offer this option.
For this reason I believe a home based treatment maybe a better option for eating disorder sufferers compare to other options, as home based is free from negative destructive inpute from other sufferers.
Both Sandra Kim Leong & Irina Webster are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Sandra Kim Leong has sinced written about articles on various topics from Detoxification, Vitamins and Detoxification. are becomming a common affliction especially with young women nowadays. For more information and resources,please visit this site. Sandra Kim Leong's top article generates over 8100 views. to your Favourites.
Irina Webster has sinced written about articles on various topics from Weight Loss Pills, Wellness and Mental Health. Dr Irina Webster MD is the Director of Women Health Issues Program which covers different areas of Women Health. She is a recognised athority in the eating disorders area. She is an author of many books and a public speaker.. Irina Webster's top article generates over 6600 views. to your Favourites.