A novel approach for treating anorexia is successful in reducing certain points of the eating disorder, a recent study has found.
Anorexia is a potentially life-threatening eating disorder where patients face an intense fear of gaining weight and have a false perception of their body image. To stop weight gain, the patients develop behaviors comparable to vomiting after eating, use of laxatives and exercising excessively.
The condition requires immediate attention when the patient suffers from dehydration, malnutrition and kidney failure. Anorexia is frequently treated using a mixture of psychotherapy, medication and counseling.
In the most recent study, researchers from the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa, Oklahoma, tested a latest technique called floatation therapy on a small group of anorexia patients. The patients are suspended in a pool of warm, saline water inside a soundproof room.
Researchers evaluated 68 women and girls. Of them, 45 patients took a one-hour floatation therapy two times per week for 4 weeks. The remainder of the participants didn’t attend the therapy but received normal care.
The team measured the reductions in body dissatisfaction of all participants using a figure rating scale.
“We showed them a series, a validated scale that consists of 10 different pictures of actual female bodies various from an underweight to an chubby body mass index. And so they pick the body silhouette that the majority correspond to how they see their current body, after which they make one other alternative related to how they need their body to seem, kind of which silhouette they would like to have,” senior study writer Dr. Sahib Khalsa explained.
“So in our study, pretty reliably after each float session… as a substitute of seeing their current body as more chubby, they really picked a body that was more closely related to their actual BMI,” Khalsa said.
Their anxiety levels also significantly reduced soon after the therapy. Nevertheless, the participants didn’t show any significant changes in anxiety when followed up after six months.
The findings were published within the journal eClinicalMedicine.
“The concept is that girls with anorexia have dysfunctional interoceptive abilities [sensing internal signals from your body], so they don’t seem to be capable of attend to and perceive their bodily experiences in the identical way that healthy individuals can. And one unique thing about floating is that it helps people develop into more in tune with those body signals,” said Emily Choquette, a study co-author.
Published by Medicaldaily.com