The overall goals of treating and managing anorexia nervosa are to restore body weight, establish a positive psychological perception of self, reduce symptoms of the eating disorder, help the patient develop good social skills and support, and manage the physical symptoms and other underlying or comorbid conditions such as depression. These goals are achieved through a variety of strategies that can be combined to produce the best effect depending on the severity of the disorder. The strategies include psychotherapy, social skills training, relaxation, nutritional therapy and physical aspect management, and pharmacotherapy. These can be used for the athlete to help him treat and manage anorexia nervosa depending on its severity. …show more content…
According to Touyz et al. (2016), psychotherapy includes behavioral therapy, cognitive analytic therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, family therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy. These would help the individual recognize the consequences of the unhealthy eating habits, monitor their unhealthy habits and know how to counter them, identify interpersonal factors that influence the disorder and modify them accordingly, and establish good close interpersonal support to develop healthy eating habits.
The second strategy would entail social skills training and relaxation training to assist in helping the patient overcome the underlying anxiety that make him refuse to eat appropriately. Social skills in particular help improve the person's self-esteem thereby altering the negative self-image to a positive self-image through enhancing self-confidence (Touyz, 2016). Relaxation training, on the other hand, directly counters anxiety and helps the patient restraint from a negative focus on his or her physical