What Should You Expect From Family-Based Therapy For Treating A Teenager With Bulimia?
by Julia Gregory
Bulimia is a type of eating disorder that features periodic binge and purge cycles. When a person has bulimia, they will eat massive amounts of food and then purge it using a method like taking laxatives, exercising for hours, or vomiting it up. Bulimia can have severe health consequences since laxatives and vomiting can both cause dehydration and electrolyte imbalances. Losing too much weight is also a serious health concern.
Adolescence is a common time for eating disorders to start showing themselves. If you suspect that your teen has bulimia, one treatment option for eating disorders that's meant specifically for teens is family-based therapy. In family-based therapy, you'll go through multiple sessions with a trained counselor that can help your teenager recover from bulimia by temporarily changing your family dynamics. To learn how family-based treatment for teenagers with bulimia works, read on.
Family-Based Therapy Starts With You Creating a Controlled Environment
When you first start family-based therapy for bulimia, you'll be required to drastically change the way that you interact with your teenager. You'll need to control their environment in a way similar to an inpatient treatment facility for eating disorders. You'll need to block their ability to access food in order to prevent binges, and you'll also need to prevent them from purging by exercising, taking laxatives or vomiting after eating.
The first part of family-based treatment is the most difficult since it's a major change in your family dynamic. You may have to take time off of work or ask extended family members to help supervise your teen during the day. One of the goals of this phase is refeeding, which helps your teen get back up to a healthy weight, and it also helps them change their relationship with how they eat.
Your Teen Will Slowly Begin to Make Choices Independently
You'll continue meeting with your therapist while maintaining a controlled environment for your teenager. Under the guidance of your therapist, you'll slowly allow your teen to make more choices about what they eat and when they eat it, and you'll also be requested to give them more freedom in what they do during the day.
Relaxing the restrictions of the first phase is an important step since it will allow your child to begin managing their treatment for bulimia on their own. Your therapist will inform you about behaviors that may indicate that your teen has relapsed, and you'll need to watch for them during this phase.
Family-Based Therapy Ends With Your Teen Having Total Control Over Their Food Choices
The ultimate goal of family-based therapy is to completely eliminate any restrictions on your child's diet, allowing them the freedom to make all of their own choices. Your teenager will need to learn how to manage this entirely on their own once they move out, so this is another important step. You'll continue meeting with your therapist as you relax restrictions, allowing you and your teen to talk about any challenges you may be facing trying to control bulimic behavior.
While family-based therapy can be intense, especially during the first few weeks, it's designed to allow your teen to recover while slowly regaining the ability to control their dietary habits independently. If you think that this treatment option for eating disorders is the best choice for your teen, search for a therapist in your area who is trained to use family-based therapy to help teenagers recover from bulimia.
Contact an eating disorder treatment center to learn more about their services.
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About Me
The decision to move one of my parents into assisted living was one of the most difficult I have ever made. I had extreme feelings of guilt that led to me being at the facility with my parent practically around the clock. It took a few months before I realized that I could not let my own life fall apart from the guilt I was feeling. I also learned that my parent was fine without me constantly hovering around. Since that time, I have had several friends express similar feelings of guilt. I started this blog to help others in the same situation understand not only their feelings about assisted living, but those of their parents.