What is anorexia?
Anorexia nervosa is an Eating Disorder (ED) characterized by restriction of energy intake concerning needs. It leads to a significantly low body weight. It is related to an intense fear of gaining weight and alteration in the way one perceives one’s weight. Moreover, the recognition of the seriousness of current low body weight is frequently diminished.
There are two main types of anorexia:
- restrictive type, where over the past three months the person has lost weight through eating less, not eating, or intense exercise
- binge-purging type, where over the past three months the person has lost weight through binging and purging episodes (i.e., self-induced vomiting or misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas).
Therapy for anorexia nervosa goes beyond behavior
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder (ED), but above all, it is a difficulty in managing emotions. We associate anorexia with extreme thinness. However, from a psychological point of view, it is an attempt to use the body to manage emotions. People with this disorder are often perfectionists. They try to compensate for their feelings of vulnerability by achieving perfection and feeling valid.
The excessive worry about body image in our society does not help to have a healthy relationship with their body. Treated as an object, that is, without being taken into account, we learn not to respect our body and use it as a tool to please others.
Our anorexia treatment is based on the relational psychodynamic approach and mentalization-based therapy. The effectiveness of these treatments has a solid scientific basis.
Treatment for anorexia in Barcelona and online
We are a psychology center in Barcelona specialized in the treatment of eating disorders.
The therapy for anorexia focuses on:
- helping people to learn to manage their emotions
- to treat themselves in a different way
- to take themselves into account
- to help them improve their self-esteem
- to learn to relate in a different, more rewarding way with others
Anorexia nervosa: complete treatments to overcome it
Our treatments for anorexia are complete, multidisciplinary and from the Mentalization Based Therapy perspective. This approach has proved to have a strong scientific base and to be effective in Eating Disorders.
First of all, we offer therapy with highly qualified psychotherapists specialized in the treatments of Eating Disorders. The treatment can be either in the form of an outpatients treatment (individual and/or a Group therapy) or part of an Intensive program (Day Treatment) with additional accompaniment.
Moreover, we offer support from nutritionists, who specialize in treating Eating Disorders, and medical doctors, who collaborates with a team of therapists and take care of the somatic symptoms related to Eating Disorders.