Eating Disorders: Multidisciplinary Assessment and Interventions

Multidisciplinary Assessment and Interventions 1
EATING DISORDERS: MULTIDISCIPLINARY ASSESSMENT AND
INTERVENTIONS
By [Name]
Course
Professor’s Name
Institution
Location of Institution
Date

Multidisciplinary Assessment and Interventions 2
Introduction
Eating disorders are severe mental complications which make an individual to
encounter serious disturbances in taking meals (Pinhas et al., 2017). Additionally, the
diseases interfere with exercise behaviors of the affected person since the mental
complications distort both emotions and thoughts. Eating disorders are common among
young individuals especially females. Apart from physical exercise and eating, the
diseases affect every aspect of an individual’s life. There are five different kinds of eating
disorders which fall under the category of mental illnesses. The complications include
anorexia nervosa (AN), binge-eating disorder (BED), and bulimia nervosa (BN). The
other two eating complications include night-eating disorder (NED), and eating disorder
not otherwise specified (EDNOS). Eating disorders have numerous risk factors which
include socio-cultural, familial, and individual factors. However, the most critical risk
factors are weight control behaviors and low self-esteem. Eating disorders pose both
psychological and physical consequences to the affected persons. The diseases cause
complications to the endocrine, cardiovascular, and gastrointestinal systems. This paper
will discuss the multidisciplinary assessment of eating disorders to the young people and
their families. It will also explore the intervention measures.
Eating Disorders
Anorexia Nervosa (AN)
Anorexia is a condition where individuals feel that they are overweight while
everyone else sees them to be underweight (Westwood, Mandy, and Tchanturia, 2017).
Such individuals begin to regulate their weight by controlling the kinds and amount of
food they take. The symptoms of the condition include restricted eating and emancipation
(extreme thinness). The affected individual takes drastic measures to lose weight.

Multidisciplinary Assessment and Interventions 3
Additionally, the mental state makes the patient fear any prospects of gaining additional
weight. AN distorts the body image of the patient. The restricted eating makes the client
be sluggish and experience a chronic multiorgan failure.
Bulimia Nervosa (BN)
Patients of bulimia consume huge chunks of food and proceed to purge the
nutriment (Wagner et al., 2015). BN patients cannot control the amounts of nourishment
they take; hence purge to regulate the quantity of food intake. The patients purge by
taking diuretics, forced vomiting, among other ways. The clients can also conduct
extensive physical exercise to facilitate the quick metabolism of the excess food. The
symptoms of BN include electrolyte imbalance and severe dehydration. Gastrointestinal
disorders like acid reflux are common with BN patients. Patients also complain of sore
throats and swelling of the salivary glands located at the jaw.
Binge-Eating Disorder (BED)
Binge eating transforms into a complication when individuals cannot regulate
their eating (Reilly et al., 2017). Unlike the BN patients, the clients of BED do not fast or
purge to control their eating habits. Patients of BED struggle to control their weight
thereby feeling shameful about their inability to regulate their eating habits. BED leads to
obesity or overweight to the patients. The symptoms of the complication include eating
when an individual is full and eating alone. BED patients always appear ashamed and
distressed about their eating habits. The patients also eat hurriedly and exercise frequent
dieting sessions without losing weight.
Night-Eating Syndrome (NES)
The syndrome consists of insomnia, evening hyperphagia, and morning anorexia
(Thomas et al., 2015). NES occurs when an individual switches from the normal daily

Multidisciplinary Assessment and Interventions 4
routine of taking meals to an unusual night routine. The patients restrain from eating
during the day and eat twice or more times between 7: 30 PM and 5: 30 AM. A recent
study has indicated that NES patients have more mealtimes than the daily eaters who
have an average of three meal times. The night eaters also like consuming carbohydrate-
rich foods; thereby easily contacting obesity. The possible causes of NES include low
self-esteem, stress, and depression.
Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS)
These disorders are not as common as the four discussed above. Examples of
EDNOS include rumination and pica. Rumination occurs when an individual continually
regurgitates nutriment after feeding (Benninga et al., 2016). On the other hand, pica is a
complication where an individual consistently feeds on nonfood items (McNicholas, and
McDevitt, 2018). Pica and rumination are common among individuals with autism and
intellectual disabilities. Pica causes interference with digestion in the gastrointestinal
tract.
Multidisciplinary Assessment
Assessment of eating disorders involves interviewing young individuals together
with their families. The interview should assess crucial areas like family and social
history, past and present co-morbidities, and illness history.
History of Eating Disorder
The assessor should investigate the perception of the young individual and the
family on the causes of mental complication. The assessment should gauge the perceived
impact of the disorder on the client and relatives. The duration in which the patient has
taken with the disease is also an essential point of assessment. The caregiver should ask
the patient about the symptoms of the complication. The psychiatrist should also assess