Both anorexia and bulimia can be treated successfully. Most damaging effects can be reversed if the condition is recognized and treated early enough. Without intervention, though, an eating disorder won't just clear itself up. It may continue into adulthood, causing irreversible physical and psychological damage.

The individual's relationship with food may never again be completely anxiety-free - but the anorexic or bulimic can learn to control his/her eating patterns and find healthy ways to manage stress and pain.

There's no quick fix. The most successful treatment seems to draw on a number of approaches, including both medical and psychological.

While much can be accomplished in outpatient treatment, in many cases, hospitalization may be necessary to treat physical and psychological problems, and to bring the abnormal eating patterns under control. In either setting, individual psychotherapy can be a key to understanding self-destructive behaviors and to developing healthier ways of dealing with stress.

Family therapy is extremely important for teens with eating disorders. Because they live in a family context, teenagers need desperately to feel their family is supporting them. The family in turn needs support as parents and siblings try to cope with the way anorexia and bulimia affect their lives. Group therapy is another form of help that provides crucial peer support. Nutrition counseling, behavior modification and medication are other resources that prove helpful.

Help Is Available. The important thing to remember is that the anorexic or bulimic needs professional help. The individual is caught in a cycle of obsessive behavior that they can't break alone, even with all the willpower in the world.

If you think a teen in your family may be struggling with an eating disorder, speak with your teen's physician or call an eating disorders program that specializes in treating teenagers. Teens have different problems and pressures than adults do and treatment approaches should address these special concerns.

With prompt treatment and support from friends and family, the anorexic or bulimic can learn that food is neither a best friend nor a worst enemy. Perhaps most importantly, the individual can begin to rebuild the central friendship in their life: a healthy relationship with themselves.

For more information about eating disorders and teens, call The Children's Hospital in Denver, Eating Disorders Treatment Center at (303) 764-8521.