More Complex Than Just Food

One of my friends is going to an eating disorder group because his insurance company says that what his diagnosis requires. But his problems are much deeper than just anorexia: depression, mild paranoia, and suicidal tendencies. How can this be the correct treatment regime for him?

I agree with you. I think eating disorders are a result of mental health problems. Was your friend diagnosed by a mental health professional or family doctor? At any rate, the insurance companies will benefit whether or not it's a correct diagnosis.

Depends....if the ED group gets to the bottom of what is causing the ED....then it will be worthwhile....if they only look at it as body image issues....they it will be useless.

ED groups don't usually just look at the food issue but some are useless & that is all they focus on.....only he will be able to tell if it touches on the real reasons behind what is causing his ED.

Stress is my trigger for anorexia....always has been as stress always caused me to loose weight.....then I get into a mode where I just want to see the weight continue to come off....but at the same time, it's really the stress that is causing it in the first place because I get so sick feeling that I can't eat......if it becomes long term stress, the weight loss becomes extreme & I end up really sick from it & the anorexia takes over my life.

DBT group has actually been the best help for my anorexia because there is a distress tolerance skill that has to do with acting the opposite of your urge & eating is one of the things that is required so that your distress & emotions can stay regulated so wise mind tells you that you have to eat at least enough to not get really sick

they want to attack the thing that presents the biggest physical danger- my insurance heavily pressed me to go into eating disorder treatment, too. (I didnt go.) But they tried really hard to make me.

Medicare doesn't pay for ED treatment inpatient. My pdoc found that they had a fund for people who they thought were really in need. They only paid for the inpatient stay, they didn't cover the pdoc or the psychologist & that cost a fortune at that time.....needless to say they didn't get paid either because we didn't have money. The problem was that they didn't treat the problem......they just treated the symptom & it didn't resolve the ED......or the desire to die because of the situation I was in. It was driving me to that point where the only thing I had control over was my eating....& going to the treatment center didn't change the situation when I got out of there so nothing was resolved & neither was the ED.