Antidepressant Medications

Medication can be prescribed to help treat eating disorder co-morbid symptoms. Medications usually used to treat eating disorders are antidepressants. Antidepressant medications have been documented by evidence based scientific treatments. There is a range of antidepressants currently approved by the FDA, including SSRIs, MAOIs, and TeCAs (Erickson, 2012). All of the drugs affect the uptake and processing of different brain chemicals including serotonin, which affect mood. SSRIs, is used to treat anxiety disorders. Common SSRI and tricyclics are: Fluoxetine, Prozac, Sertraline, Zoloft, Escitalopram, Celexa, Anafranil, and Tofranil. These medications are started at low doses and gradually increased until they have a beneficial effect (Erickson,

Ellis and Beck view people as a person in search of survival and happiness. People experiencing eating disorders have a difficult time being productive and satisfying their intrinsic human goals. People fears leads to their socially avoidant behavior. People are responsible for their behavior; they can easily determine if that behavior is “bad” or “good,” self- and society-serving or self- and society-defeating (Ellis, 1994).
REBT counseling consists of ABC. The A stands for the antecedent event or activating experience, or something that happens to us that we find relevant. The B stands for Beliefs about the event. The C stands for consequences, or what we normally think of as the result of A (Ellis, 1994). Individual’s Cs is what gives them the desire to want therapy for their behavior. The Cs consists of fear/eating disorders, isolation and

They will need to detach from their beliefs by expressing the consequences of the belief. The first technique that can be used to assist clients is pragmatic or functional disputes. Through pragmatic/functional disputes clients must see that their belief, being worried, fearful, and anxious, is interfering with their life goals (Murdock, as cited by Ellis & MacLaren, 2005).
The second technique is empirical or realistic disputing; clients will need to provide evidence that supports their beliefs. People with eating disorders current beliefs and faulty logic will need to be turned into consistent and logical beliefs. Lastly, clients will need to focus on life satisfaction. Most people with eating disorders are so focused on worrying and/or being fearful of food and weight gain that they have lost focus of bigger issues in their