When Your Spouse Has An Eating Disorder: Treatment Options You Should Know About

When many people think about eating disorders, they think of young or adolescent girls during their most emotionally vulnerable formative years. However, many people (men and women) do not develop eating disorders until well into adulthood. If you have a spouse who is suffering from an eating disorder, you may find yourself unsure of what treatments are available to them for their disorder as well as what help and assistance you can get to cope with a difficult and confusing situation. Then, you and your spouse can begin the process of getting treatment and healing.

Help Your Spouse Get Into A Dialectical Behavior Therapy Program

There are many types of therapy that a person can choose for their eating disorder. However, one of the best approaches for eating disorders of all types is known as dialectical behavior therapy (DBT).

This form of therapy is a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy that focuses on both the individual causes and factors involved in the development and existence of an eating disorder as well as the psychosocial aspects of that disorder. In other words, it treats both the individual and social circumstances that surround eating disorders.

Your spouse will go to regular individual therapy sessions to deal with their specific thoughts, feelings, and triggers that are disordered. They will also attend regular group therapy sessions with other people suffering from eating disorders to address the social aspects of the disorder including feelings of depression, isolation, and the societal pressures that contributed to their illness.

Go To Family Therapy With Your Spouse

Family therapy is a form of treatment that can help both you and your spouse cope with and overcome their eating disorder. Because eating disorders do have a social element, it is often beneficial for your spouse to get their family members involved in therapy and recovery.

It is important for them to be able to communicate openly with family members and help to identify any enabling behaviors that family may have engaged in that contributed the eating disorder development. This can be as simple as complementing them on their continued weight loss, ignoring when they skip meals or only pick at the food, or not confronting other unhealthy behaviors regarding food or exercise. Identifying such enabling behaviors can help family members to become a stronger support system for their loved one during recovery.

Additionally, family therapy can help you (and your children if you have any) to directly confront your spouse's eating disorder and heal from the trauma and distress that these issues also have caused you and the rest of your family. Being able to communicate and support one another will strengthen family bonds and help to make all treatments more effective and successful in the long-term.

For more information, contact Clinical Services or a similar organization.

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