How to treat anorexia nervosa? These four methods are effective quickly!

Anorexia nervosa is a type of anorexia. In order to get timely treatment for this disease, patients have many methods to choose from, including stimulating and maintaining patients' treatment motivation, restoring weight, reversing malnutrition, and combining different treatment methods for comprehensive treatment. All of these have good effects.

1. Stimulate and maintain the patient's motivation for treatment.

2. Restore weight and reverse malnutrition

Outpatient care, day hospital care and inpatient care can all help patients restore their weight. Patients who meet the admission criteria should be admitted to a general hospital or a psychiatric ward, and should continue outpatient treatment after hospitalization.

3. Use a combination of different treatment methods for comprehensive treatment and adopt an individualized treatment plan

Treatment targets patients' excessive concern about body shape and weight, their eating habits, and general psychosocial functioning and may include psychoeducation, supportive care, nutritional therapy, pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy (including cognitive-behavioral therapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy, and family therapy), self-care groups, and support groups.

(1) Supportive treatment

The purpose is to save lives and maintain the stability of vital signs. It mainly includes correcting water and electrolyte metabolism disorders and acid-base imbalance, providing sufficient energy to sustain life, eliminating edema, and removing threats to life.

(2) Nutritional therapy

The goal is to restore normal weight. Nutritional therapy, especially dietary intake, should start with a small amount and be increased in a planned and step-by-step manner as physiological functions adapt and recover. In the initial stage, easily digestible, non-irritating food should be given. Liquid, semi-liquid or soft food can also be used according to different conditions. Ensure adequate intake of energy, protein, vitamins and inorganic salts to promote the recovery of body functions, gradual weight increase and restoration of normal weight levels.

(3) Drug treatment

The requirements for drugs are different at different stages of AN. The acute treatment phase mainly emphasizes rapid and effective weight gain, while the role of the maintenance treatment phase is to prevent disease recurrence. Current drug treatments mainly achieve the purpose of eating and weight gain by relieving compulsion (such as fluoxetine), improving depressive mood (various antidepressants), alleviating certain physical symptoms such as delayed gastric emptying (cisapride and metoclopramide), and treating overvalued or near-delusional beliefs about one's own weight and shape (selection of antipsychotics). In recent years, it has been found that selective 5-HT reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as fluoxetine, can prevent the recurrence of AN.

(4) Psychotherapy Supportive psychotherapy

The treatment effect is better for chronic adult AN patients who develop the disease over the age of 18. The specific contents include: establishing a good relationship with the patient and gaining the patient's trust and cooperation; providing patient and detailed explanations, psychological education and nutritional counseling to AN patients so that they can understand the nature of their disease and realize the importance of scientific and reasonable diet to physical development and health; encouraging them to take the initiative and actively participate in treatment; cultivating the patient's self-confidence and self-reliance so that they can take personal responsibility in the treatment plan, correct the patient's eating behavior, and ultimately defeat the disease.

4. Adopting compulsory treatment

It is used only in very rare cases and must be considered first when the patient's psychiatric or medical condition is life-threatening and the patient refuses hospitalization.