Important Points! | Edawareness

Important Tips for Healthcare Professionals

The first point of contact can be critical - it is a huge step for an individual to acknowledge their eating disorder to a medical professional. Your attitude toward a patient experiencing one of these disorders is of utmost importance - regardless of your personal opinions or reservations, please approach these individuals with compassion, understanding, and respect.
Weight is not the only clinical marker of eating disorders (EDs). People who are of a normal/healthy weight can have serious and debilitating EDs as well.
All instances of precipitous weight-loss in otherwise healthy individuals should be investigated for the possibility of an ED, including post-bariatric surgery patients. In addition, rapid weight gain or weight fluctuations can be a potential marker of an ED.
Up to 50% or so of people who seek treatment for an eating disorder do not fit the official criteria listed in the DSM IV. The definitions listed are very specific, and so are a bit more restrictive than might be practical/useful (changes to this coming in the DSM-V). It is more important what a person does than how we label the disorder.
Don’t make the mistake of relying on medical diagnostic blood tests, urinalysis, or EKG to reveal these problems. These diseases will not show up in any of these tests until the lattermost stages.
An important component of physical examinations for individuals with eating disorders is to compare their supine and standing heart rate and blood pressure.
It is so important for clinicians not to focus solely on weight restoration - meeting weight restoration goals is not an accurate indicator of a patient's readiness to stop treatment. This aspect of recovery often provokes anxiety, conflicting emotions and stress. The stress that accompanies weight restoration often affects other dimensions of recovery, such as how sufferers feel and act around food. During and after weight restoration it is crucial that professional support remains stable so as to assist the victim in maintaining this healthy weight and dealing constructively with the negative feelings they may have about it.

*In a short period of time, Dr. Chris Thornton addresses several of the important issues that are central to truly understanding eating disorders.

If, as clinicians, you only read/watch one thing on this website, please let it be this.