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NICE RELEASE GUIDELINES FOR THE TREATMENT OF EATING DISORDERS
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recently released guidelines for the very first national strategy for treating anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders
It is hoped these clinical guidelines will provide a plan for the effective assessment of people with eating disorders particularly adolescents and young people.
The guidelines recognise that around one in every 250 females and one in every 2000 males suffer from anorexia in adolescence or young adulthood, with more than 600,000 men and 700,000 women in Britain now classed as severely underweight. These numbers currently represent 2% of the adult population, and are forecast to exceed 1.5 million in the next 5 years.
Meanwhile, around one in every 50 females and one in every 400 males is suffering from bulimia. Data also reveals that around 50% of those suffering from some kind of eating disorder are females aged between 13 and 19.
Recommendations within the guidelines include a commitment that anorexics and bulimics should, where possible, be treated as outpatients and offered therapy. . Treating sufferers as outpatients rather than admitting them to hospital is seen as vital to encouraging people to seek help. Crucially, emphasis is firmly placed on the inclusion of the child and adolescent sufferer's family in treatment programmes. All family members, and especially siblings, should in future from part of a well-structured and on-going therapy that aims to encourage communication and to allow the sharing of advice on behavioural management.
The senior author of the NICE guidelines, Professor Simon Gowers, stresses that Family Therapy is a key element in tackling eating disorders. He observes,
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