Treatment FAQ

what works in in-patient treatment of eating disorders: the patient’s point of view.

by Anissa Reichel Published 2 years ago Updated 1 year ago

Our inpatient treatment for eating disorders focuses on stabilizing the medical, dietary, and psychological health of each of our patients. We understand that healing of any sort is a process, not an event. Therefore an individualized treatment plan for each patient is vital.

Full Answer

How does inpatient treatment for an eating disorder work?

Entering an inpatient treatment program is often accompanied with feelings of anxiety and fears surrounding living a life independent from one’s eating disorder. However, the structure of an inpatient treatment program is designed to support clients in eliminating such stressors.

What are the different levels of treatment for an eating disorder?

Eating disorder treatment consists of levels of care ranging from inpatient or residential, to partial-hospitalization, to intensive outpatient.

What is evidence-based treatment for eating disorders?

In eating disorder therapies, evidence-based treatment usually means that the therapy has been used in a research study and found to be effective in reducing eating disorder symptoms, encouraging weight restoration in underweight patients, and decreasing eating disorder thoughts.

Where do you go for treatment for an eating disorder?

Eating disorder patients can be treated on a general psychiatric unit. However, it is usually recommended that the individual selects an inpatient program which has a specific eating disorder program or separate specialized unit devoted to the care of individuals with an eating disorder.

How would a patient overcome an eating disorder?

Individual or group therapy. Therapy can help you explore the issues underlying your eating disorder, improve your self-esteem, and learn healthy ways of responding to stress and emotional pain. Different therapists have different methods, so it is important to discuss with them your goals in working towards recovery.

What is the first treatment objective when treating a patient with anorexia nervosa?

The first goal of treatment is getting back to a healthy weight. You can't recover from anorexia without returning to a healthy weight and learning proper nutrition. Those involved in this process may include: Your primary care doctor, who can provide medical care and supervise your calorie needs and weight gain.

What therapy helps with eating?

Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) IPT is a type of therapy that's used to treat eating disorders like binge eating disorder or bulimia. In IPT, your eating disorder is explored in the context of social and interpersonal relationships.

What is the most successful type of therapy for individuals with anorexia nervosa?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has been successful in treating several different conditions and is often used for eating disorder recovery. In simplest terms, CBT can be understood as a type of talk therapy.

What interventions are effective for individuals with anorexia?

For anorexia nervosa, the family approach showed greater effectiveness. Other effective approaches were interpersonal psychotherapy, dialectic behavioral therapy, support therapy and self-help manuals.

Which is the most appropriate goal for a patient with an eating disorder?

Goals of eating disorder treatment include: Restoring patients to a healthy body weight. Stabilizing accompanying symptoms and medical conditions of the eating disorder. Reducing or eliminating negative behaviors including bingeing, purging, and compulsive exercise.

What type of therapy is interpersonal therapy?

​Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on relieving symptoms by improving interpersonal functioning. A central idea in IPT is that psychological symptoms can be understood as a response to current difficulties in everyday relationships with other people.

What is CBT therapy?

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a talking therapy that can help you manage your problems by changing the way you think and behave. It's most commonly used to treat anxiety and depression, but can be useful for other mental and physical health problems.

Which is a medical doctor who specializes in the treatment of mental disorders?

A psychiatrist is a medical doctor (an M.D. or D.O.) who specializes in mental health, including substance use disorders. Psychiatrists are qualified to assess both the mental and physical aspects of psychological problems. People seek psychiatric help for many reasons.

What is the only evidence based treatment for adolescents with anorexia nervosa?

Using the most recent Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology methodological review criteria, family treatment-behavior (FT-B) is the only well-established treatment for adolescents with anorexia nervosa.

What is challenging about treating a person with anorexia nervosa?

People with anorexia may find themselves dealing with troubled personal relationships, bullying and pressures from peers or loved ones to maintain a certain standard of beauty. Hormonal changes that lead to physical changes in the body may also contribute to the development of eating disorders.

Does CBT work for anorexia?

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the leading evidence-based treatment for bulimia nervosa. A new “enhanced” version of the treatment appears to be more potent and has the added advantage of being suitable for all eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa and eating disorder not otherwise specified.

Comprehensive Care

Our treatment program begins with a psychiatric, physical, and psycho-social assessment. These initial tests help us to construct a unique treatment plan. As treatment progresses, we continue to monitor each patient for signs of improvement, and we make changes to our treatment plan as needed.

Individual Treatment

Licensed therapist (four times per week with at least one family therapy session)

Admission Process

The admission process for inpatient treatment for eating disorders begins with a call to our admission team at 888-224-8250. A clinical assessment, as well as an insurance and financial review, ensure that patients are admitted as clinically and medically appropriate and as insurance benefits and financial resources will allow.

Why is a nutritionist important?

Your dietitian is specifically trained to understand how to properly fuel your body, and (more importantly) they understand that living a healthy life can coexist with your eating disorder.

What do counselors ask you to do during meals?

During meals, counselors may ask you to take bigger bites, keep your hands above the table, or remove your napkin from your lap — this is normal. These rules help reinforce healthy habits. Trusted Source.

What does it mean to have a seat at the table?

What it means to have a seat at the table. Your recovery journey is unique to you, and your meal plan progression will reflect this as well. Some patients will have meal plans geared toward maintenance, while others may have a meal plan focused on weight restoration. This can be daunting during mealtime.

What to pack in a suitcase?

The remaining space in your suitcase should include items to keep yourself grounded and entertained. For example: 1 colored pens and pencils 2 stationery and stamps 3 photos to tape up (without frames!) 4 a deck of cards 5 a leather-bound journal (FYI, spiral notebooks are typically prohibited) 6 coloring pages 7 your favorite book 8 headphones 9 anxiety toys (like thinking putty or fidget spinners)

When was the last medical review in 2021?

While inpatient care might feel like a sudden halt in your life, it’s just a pit stop on your way to recovery. Last medically reviewed on April 29, 2021.

Is there a plate for eating disorder?

No plate is created the same. When you first enter eating disorder treatment, you and your dietitian will create a personalized meal plan to best suit your needs. You may feel increased anxiety knowing your routine is going to be switched up, but this is a good thing.

Can you be pushed to your breaking point in inpatient treatment?

During inpatient treatment for eating disorders, you’ll be pushed to your breaking point — and then you’ll likely be pushed a little further. But like that old trust fall group exercise, you’ll be surrounded by a supportive team to lift you up. You’ll manage your eating disorder consistently, despite its urges.

What is the first goal of eating disorder treatment?

Reducing eating disorder behaviors is generally considered the first goal of treatment, and the following therapies currently have the most evidence for effectiveness. Treatments are listed in alphabetical order.

What is eating disorder therapy?

A relatively short-term, symptom-oriented therapy focusing on the beliefs, values, and cognitive processes that maintain the eating disorder behavior. It aims to modify distorted beliefs and attitudes about the meaning of weight, shape, and appearance, which are correlated to the development and maintenance of the eating disorder.

What is DBT treatment?

A behavioral treatment supported by empirical evidence for treatment of binge eating disorder, bulimia nervosa, and anorexia nervosa. DBT assumes that the most effective place to begin treatment is with changing behaviors. Treatment focuses on developing skills to replace maladaptive eating disorder behaviors. Skills focus on building mindfulness skills, becoming more effective in interpersonal relationships, emotion regulation, and distress tolerance. Although DBT was initially developed to treat borderline personality disorder, it is currently being used to treat eating disorders as well as substance abuse.

What is CRT in eating disorders?

CRT targets rigid thinking processes considered a core component of anorexia nervosa through simple exercises, reflection, and guided supervision. As of 2017, CRT is being studied to test effectiveness in improving treatment adherence in adults with anorexia; it has not been tested in other eating disorders.

What is the psychodynamic approach to eating disorders?

Psychodynamic psychotherapists view behaviors as the result of internal conflicts, motives and unconscious forces, and if behaviors are discontinued without addressing the underlying motives that are driving them, then relapse will occur. Symptoms are viewed as expressions of the patient’s underlying needs and issues and are thought to be resolved with the completion of working through these issues.

What is DBT used for?

Although DBT was initially developed to treat borderline personality disorder, it is currently being used to treat eating disorders as well as substance abuse.

How does FBT help with anorexia?

FBT doesn’t focus on the cause of the eating disorder but instead places initial focus on refeeding and full weight restoration to promote recovery. All family members are considered an essential part of treatment, which consists of re-establishing healthy eating, restoring weight and interrupting compensatory behaviors; returning control of eating back to the adolescent; and focusing on remaining issues.

What does P2 mean in a diagnosis?

P2: …understanding, supportive, patient…accepting you the way you are today. They may not like what the eating disorder makes you do and may express that, but they see you, the person, and the eating disorder as separate.

Is rhetoric axiomatic in health care?

It is axiomatic, in contemporary health care, that the views and experiences of people who use services are fundamental to quality. Translation of rhetoric to practice is challenging however within the complex health care environment.

Is anorexia nervosa expensive?

Background: Inpatient treatment for anorexia nervosa is costly. Effectiveness is uncertain, influence by patients’ ambivalence. While patients’ insights and experiences are integral to quality, their views have received little attention.

How are eating disorders managed?

Historically, eating disorders were managed in generic settings by child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and community mental health teams. 2 Family therapy has proved an effective evidence-based treatment, particularly for young people with eating disorders. Both children and adults benefit from family involvement and carer support.

What are the key indicators of eating disorders?

Key learning points: Key indicators of an eating disorder include weight changes, avoiding eating with others, and wearing baggy clothes. Be aware of the language you use in patients with eating disorders – telling someone they ‘look well’ can be interpreted as looking fat. A patient does not have to be really thin to be suffering ...

What are the most common eating disorders?

Anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder are the three most common eating disorders, although there are many others, identified as other specified feeding or eating disorders (OSFED, previously EDNOS) and avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID).

How many women in their 40s have an eating disorder?

New research from University College London suggests around 3% of women in their 40s and 50s have an active eating disorder. 4 Pregnant women can also be affected by eating disorders and it is important that support is offered before, during and after pregnancy, especially where there are anxieties about changing body shapes.

Is anorexia a slimmer's disease?

Historically, anorexia has often been unhelpfully referred to as a ‘slimmer’s disease affecting young women’, however, the Personalised Eating Disorder Support charity is working hard to help people understand that anorexia is rarely just about weight and shape.

Can diabetes cause eating disorders?

It is also increasingly recognised that many people with diabetes also struggle with an eating disorder and that serious health complications can occur with the misuse of insulin. The practice of reducing or omitting insulin in order to lose weight is known as ‘diabulimia’. 3.

Is weight loss a symptom of anorexia?

You have to be really thin to be suffering from an eating disorder – While weight loss is one of the indicators in anorexia, it is not the only symptom. Very often the sufferer may be told they are a healthy weight.

What is an INTENSIVE OUTPATIENT?

INTENSIVE OUTPATIENT/OUTPATIENT. Patient is medically stable and does not need daily medical monitoring. Patient is psychiatrically stable and has symptoms under sufficient control to be able to function in normal social, educational, or vocational situations and continue to make progress in recovery.

What is a psychiatrically stable patient?

Patient is psychiatrically stable but: Unable to function in normal social, educational, or vocational situations. Engages in daily binge eating, purging, fasting or very limited food intake, or other pathogenic weight control techniques.

Why is it important to understand the different levels of care and methodologies?

It’s also good to understand types of treatment because insurance benefits are tied both to diagnosis and the type of treatment setting.

What is the role of a dietitian in ED?

The dietitian’s role in ED treatment involves looking at weights and vitals daily, and tailoring the patient’s meal plan to promote weight restoration , weight maintenance , or weight loss.

How does a registered dietitian work?

Eating disorder treatment consists of levels of care ranging from inpatient or residential, to partial-hospitalization, to intensive outpatient. At inpatient level, the patient is residing in a treatment facility with round-the-clock care, and is seen by a dietitian multiple times per week, whereas in intensive outpatient care, a patient may be in programming for a few hours a day for 3 to 5 days per week, and typically has one individual session with a dietitian per week.

Why is normalization important for dietitians?

Normalization of eating behaviors is a focus of dietitians as well, because eating disorders typically involve numerous food rules or rituals that function to serve the eating disorder, not the patient.

Why is trust important in dietitian?

Trust and a strong rapport between the patient and dietitian are necessary to ensure that the patient’s needs are being met and the appropriate dietary recommendations are being made. Unfortunately, there is a high-risk of relapse with eating disorders.

Is eating disorder a mental illness?

Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses. There is often a misconception that eating disorders are only “real” in emaciated women. However, a person of any sex and weight can be struggling from an eating disorder that is just as life threatening as someone who is very underweight.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9