Eating Disorders: A Case Study
According to the American Psychiatric Association DSM-5 (2013), Andrea fits the criteria for a diagnosis of binge-eating disorder (BED). She eats larger amounts of food than most people would eat within a time period and feels lack of control about her eating. She eats until she is uncomfortable, sometimes to the point where she is in pain. Andrea also reports eating she is not hungry, eating alone because of shame and feeling guilt or disgust with herself over the eating binges. There is distress regarding her eating habits and Andrea fits the criteria for length of episode/time, her worst daily binges lasting 10 months. Lastly, there are no reported episodes of bulimia nervosa or anorexia nervosa. At this time, specifications about remission
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According to Hersen and Beidel (2012), BED may be genetic. It would be helpful to know if anyone in Andrea's family fits the criteria for an eating disorder. There are also many other co-occurring medical problems that result from obesity. An assessment would provide information about whether Andrea has any of these biological/medical issues.
Ethical and Cultural Considerations One ethical concern that must be taken into consideration is that Andrea has been in therapy in the past and feels it was a failure. Her previous therapist narrowed therapy to the scope of suggesting diets and that left Andrea dissatisfied. Andrea is open to therapy but it may be in her best interest to allow her to explore her feelings and thoughts about her eating disorder instead of picking therapy topics for her. It is also worth noting that BED can occur with depression and other psychological disorders. Furthermore, people with BED typically have inferior psychological functioning than obese people without BED (Hersen & Beidel, 2012) It would benefit the client to assess whether she has other disorders that need to be addressed. This also stresses the fact that therapy should not center around diets. Nutritional education is an important aspect of eating disorder treatment but the root of the eating problems should be
According to Hersen and Beidel (2012), BED may be genetic. It would be helpful to know if anyone in Andrea's family fits the criteria for an eating disorder. There are also many other co-occurring medical problems that result from obesity. An assessment would provide information about whether Andrea has any of these biological/medical issues.
Ethical and Cultural Considerations One ethical concern that must be taken into consideration is that Andrea has been in therapy in the past and feels it was a failure. Her previous therapist narrowed therapy to the scope of suggesting diets and that left Andrea dissatisfied. Andrea is open to therapy but it may be in her best interest to allow her to explore her feelings and thoughts about her eating disorder instead of picking therapy topics for her. It is also worth noting that BED can occur with depression and other psychological disorders. Furthermore, people with BED typically have inferior psychological functioning than obese people without BED (Hersen & Beidel, 2012) It would benefit the client to assess whether she has other disorders that need to be addressed. This also stresses the fact that therapy should not center around diets. Nutritional education is an important aspect of eating disorder treatment but the root of the eating problems should be