A study of osteopathic approach to treatment and management of bulimia nervosa.
Item
- Title
- A study of osteopathic approach to treatment and management of bulimia nervosa.
- Author(s)
- McAree Carragh
- Abstract
- The prevalence of bulimia in today's society indicates that there is a likely chance of osteopaths treating patients who are bulimic.This study aims to find out how osteopaths, who have knowingly treated patients who were bulimic, initially found this out. Another aim is to investigate the osteopathic treatment and management of these patients.The objective is to present an overview of this eating disorder for osteopaths to be able to base treatment and management decisions upon. By exploring the knowledge within this field and conducting research, the options for patient management by the osteopath were discussed.Out of 120 osteopaths contacted by letter, 13 volunteered to be interviewed. Within the subject population there was no absolute criteria for identifying bulimia in patients. It was felt that individual characteristics of different patients varied too much for osteopaths to have such absolute criteria. However, many signs, symptoms and characteristics were repeatedly noted by subjects and are factors that could be looked for when bulimia is suspected. The most commonly mentioned were problems with relationships and a corresponding lack of touch.The role of osteopaths in helping these patients was discussed. Therapeutic touch and non-judgmental listening play key roles.The viewpoint amongst the osteopaths interviewed varied. Bulimia was mainly thought to be a method of weight control with psychological, physiological and sociological factors playing roles in predisposing and maintaining the disorder.Limitations of the study were that insufficient osteopaths were interviewed for this to be representative of the profession as a whole. More investigation into this would require more osteopaths with greater experience in this area to be contacted. The viewpoint of bulimic patients who visit osteopaths was not explored. Therefore, all the information acquired in this study was only the subjects' reports of the encounters with bulimics, unverified by the patients themselves.
- Abstract
- presented at
- British School of Osteopathy
- Date Accepted
- 1999
- Date Submitted
- 11.8.2000 00:00:00
- Type
- undergraduate_project
- Language
- English
- Submitted by:
- 62
- Pub-Identifier
- 12255
- Inst-Identifier
- 780
- Keywords
- Anorexia,Eating Disorders,Bulimia Nervosa
- Recommended
- 0
- Item sets
- Thesis
McAree Carragh, “A study of osteopathic approach to treatment and management of bulimia nervosa.”, Osteopathic Research Web, accessed April 28, 2024, https://www.osteopathicresearch.com/s/orw/item/2215