Are You Worried About Handling An Eating Disorder While You Are Pregnant? 3 Tips To Get Help Through Outpatient Care

Pregnancy is often an exciting time for new parents when you can look forward to finally being able to hold your newborn baby. Yet, these nine months can also pose a challenge when you have struggled with an eating disorder in the past. Anorexia, bulimia and binge eating can all be triggered by changes that occur in your physical and mental health. While some women may struggle with body image issues, others may be unable to control their cravings for food. Fortunately, you can get help now before your eating disorder spirals out of control by understanding how to get help through outpatient care.

Understand How Outpatient Care Works

Women often choose to utilize outpatient psychiatric care to address eating disorders when they have other responsibilities to manage such as a job or young children at home. This type of care is a potential option when you do not need to be supervised around the clocks such as you would in residential treatment. With outpatient care, you will receive a plan that involves one or more of several different treatment strategies. For instance, you may attend group therapy with other people who also deal with eating disorders, or you may have individual counseling that allows you to talk one-on-one with a therapist about issues that arise during your pregnancy.

Make Sure to Attend Your Sessions

You must attend your sessions regularly to get the most out of your outpatient psychiatric care. As you search for treatment options, make sure that the plan you choose fits into your daily routine. You can even use strategies to make it easier to attend your sessions. For instance, you may choose to see your counselor after you have a prenatal checkup since you will already be off work or have a babysitter for your kids. 

Be Honest About Your Experiences

Throughout your pregnancy, you can expect to encounter experiences that affect how well you manage your eating disorder. While some of these experiences may be uncomfortable to talk about, you must remember that your counselor is not there to judge. Instead, they need to know if you are worried about things such as your weight gain or having to eat specific foods. Being open with your counselor helps them provide you with coping strategies that allow for a healthier pregnancy.

Managing your eating disorder in the past is a sure sign that you can make it through pregnancy without falling back into old habits. Yet, you do need to surround yourself with support right now. With outpatient psychiatric care, you will have somewhere to turn anytime you feel concerned about how pregnancy affects your eating patterns.

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