Reliable Psychiatric Eating Disorder Treatments in Colorado
Thanks to never-ending social media feeds and all kinds of confusing social signals and stigmas, there’s more pressure put on the way we appear than ever before. We live in an image-obsessed era, and the unrealistic appearance expectations forced on younger generations can lead to the development of physical and mental health issues, such as body dysmorphia, binge eating, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and other eating disorders. In Colorado, Larson Mental Health can provide supportive psychiatric eating disorder treatments and supportive services to improve your health, wellness, and relationship with your body.
With offices across the state, our Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners (PMHNPs) can help address the root causes of your body image concerns and provide personalized psychiatric eating disorder treatments in Denver, Fort Collins, Boulder, Highlands Ranch, and Colorado Springs. If you or someone you know is struggling with body image concerns or searching for options for eating disorder therapy, we can help.
Understanding Eating Disorders and Body Image Issues
Eating disorders are serious, and often fatal, illnesses that are defined by intense changes in people’s eating behaviors and their related thoughts and emotions surrounding food. These disorders are often characterized by behaviors like restrictive eating/dieting, compulsive eating, irregular or inflexible eating patterns, self-induced vomiting, and more.
Eating disorders are more common among tween and teen populations, and females are far more likely to develop eating disorders than males due to societal conditioning and negative social pressures. Between the non-stop pressures of social media, academia, family, and more, younger generations are constantly experiencing a “perfect storm” of issues that can lead to a variety of mental health concerns, including disordered eating and other body image concerns. Some of the most common eating disorders and body image issues include:
- Anorexia nervosa
- Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID)
- Body dysmorphia
- Bulimia nervosa
- Binge eating disorder
- Orthorexia nervosa
Eating disorders can be tricky to remedy because of the risk of medical complications and the likelihood of a co-occurring mental health disorder. In some cases, disordered eating is a symptom of something else that has gone untreated. In fact, research has shown that individuals with higher levels of anxiety and/or depression may rely on dysfunctional emotional regulation strategies, like disordered eating, to give themselves a greater sense of control. For those reasons, it’s important to seek out a psychiatric professional to properly diagnose any underlying conditions contributing to changes in eating behaviors.
Uncovering the Causes of Disordered Eating
When you're in that “perfect storm” of societal pressures and grappling with body image concerns, you can easily overlook how various mental health afflictions can influence and worsen your relationship with food and your body. At Larson Mental Health, we can help restore balance within your life and re-center your perspective on your appearance and health by providing an accurate diagnosis of your condition and addressing the root causes with psychiatric eating disorder treatments in Denver, Fort Collins, Highlands Ranch, Boulder, or Colorado Springs.
Our team of Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners has extensive experience working with both adult and youth patients across all kinds of body image concerns and eating disorders, from bulimia nervosa to body dysmorphia and more. We’ll begin with a 90-minute mental health consultation to understand your personal history, your medical history, your family history, and your current thoughts on your health and wellness. Using the information gathered during this session and any additional mental health evaluations, we will provide an accurate diagnosis of any underlying mental health conditions that are directly contributing to your disordered eating habits.
Overcoming Body Dysmorphia via Psychiatric Eating Disorder Treatments
After determining your diagnosis, our team will create a personalized treatment plan to address your mental health concerns and improve your relationship with your body image. At Larson Mental Health, we specialize in adult and pediatric medication management services, and we can appropriately prescribe medicines at therapeutic dosages to reduce symptoms and improve your mental wellness. The appropriate medicines for you or your kids will depend on the findings of your Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners at Larson Mental Health.
In addition, we offer talk therapy services at select offices and via telehealth, which could be the perfect adjunct eating disorder therapy to help you talk through the complex issues surrounding your relationship with food and your body image. However, in some cases, more intensive therapeutic interventions are needed. If that is the case for you, we can provide outside referrals with trusted partners, and we will properly align your personalized treatment plan with those therapy sessions to ensure the most optimal results for you.
Find Psychiatric Eating Disorder Treatments in Denver, Fort Collins, Highlands Ranch, Boulder & Colorado Springs
It’s not easy to grow up today, and the stresses of everyday life can make you push your mental health to the side. At Larson Mental Health, we can reframe your mental wellness in a much more positive perspective by providing tailored services to uncover and treat underlying mental health conditions and issues. With our psychiatric specialists at your side, you can enjoy life without feeling overburdened by the unrealistic expectations of modern society.
If you or someone you know is struggling with disordered eating, help is closer than you think. Contact Larson Mental Health today to get an accurate diagnosis with our talented team and explore customized psychiatric eating disorder treatment plans for your mental health needs.