Bulimia Nervosa testimonials of Recovery

Bulimia Nervosa Statistics and Behaviors

Anorexia is mentioned often as a prevalent and hugely problematic eating disorder yet bulimia nervosa is even more common than anorexia. A shocking 4 to 15 percent of young females are estimated to suffer from bulimia. That figure is astounding.

One reason bulimia is so prevalent is because long-term treatment outcomes are not very effective for individuals who have this disease. An estimated 40 percent retain chronic symptoms long after participating in a treatment program. Another reason may be that bulimia is complex in character. This disease usually involves more than one negative behavior.

Some behaviors of bulimia may include:

• Binge eating
• Purging; this may mean vomiting, using laxatives or diuretics, excessive exercise sessions, diet pills used habitually, or steroids use
• Fasting or limiting food intake much like an individual with anorexia might
• Weight, size, and body shape preoccupations
• Body image distortion

Lastly, bulimia is the one eating disorder that more often than not overlaps with a second eating disorder – either anorexia or obesity.

There is much more to bulimia than this; for further information on the disease itself read Bulimia and Bulimia Treatment.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Can Help

Since this disease is so complex and so hard to treat, bulimia nervosa testimonials of recovery are very important.

To understand why testimonials from other individuals with bulimia can help so much it’s best to understand the term ‘cognitive behavioral therapy’ (CBT). According to A Guide to Treatments That Work by Nathan P. Gorman, CBT has been shown to be the best treatment for bulimia. CBT is around 50 percent effective at eliminating not only the basic core symptoms of bulimia but also provides better long-term outcomes than other treatment options. Fifty percent is good when you consider the normal outcomes fail more than forty percent of the time.

Basics of CBT

CBT is actually a non-specific term used by therapists to describe a form of treatment based on an individual’s response to a situation. CBT focuses on the internal recovery process rather than what’s happening externally. For example, life may be stressful due to work, school, family or relationships, but CBT assumes that an individual can learn to get around those stressors and deal with the problem at hand (say, bulimia) on a personal level. The life stressors may still exist but that doesn’t mean an individual has to give into purging and other negative behaviors to deal with them.

CBT puts the individual in charge. The idea behind CBT is that if someone can change their thinking, they can beat bulimia. CBT is not on-going therapy; learning to deal with bulimia without therapy is the ideal. Real CBT therapy allows the individual in therapy to learn to ask questions and learn a new way to react to stressors. One last important point is that CBT encourages an individual to seek out the reasons why one tactic may work to treat a problem and another may not work well.

All of the main aspects of CBT can be enhanced by learning about other’s journeys through the disease. Knowing the tools another person has had success with is a great way to form your own helpful toolbox for dealing with bulimia. Hence the importance of support groups, recovery testimonials, and knowing how others made it through the healing process.

Locate Bulimia Nervosa Testimonials of Recovery

If you are in treatment for bulimia nervosa, do speak with your health care provider about resources in your area that can help you find others in the recovery process. If you’re not working on a treatment plan with a doctor, please consider locating a doctor who can help – bulimia can harm whole body systems if not treated. Whether you are in treatment or not, the following resources for bulimia nervosa testimonials of recovery can help.

Books

• Bulimia: A Guide to Recovery
• Andrea's Voice...Silenced by Bulimia: Andrea is a young woman who died from bulimia and this book is the voice of her mother, whose goal is to help others win their battle with bulimia. Although it isn't a recovery story, it is the recovery of a family affected and can help current sufferers to gain perspective.
• Hiding Under the Table: recovery from a male’s perspective.
• Monster Within: Facing an Eat Disorder
• Learning to Be Me: My Twenty-Three-Year Battle with Bulimia
• Running on Empty
• Eating Disorders Today: not a book but a helpful newsletter with stories, trends, and more.

Videos

• Bodyspeaks-DVD: women in the recovery process who use art therapy to heal.
• Voices of Recovery-DVD

Websites and Forums

• Remember it Hurts: online recovery forum.
• The Other Side: online letters of recovery and words of encouragement from people who’ve been there.
• Patient UK forum: still relevant worldwide – stories and advice in a forum format.
• EatingDisordersForum.com: a huge forum of all things related to eating disorders.

If you need help finding help you can contact EatingDisorder.com confidentially online or call them at 1-866-575-8179.