Eating Disorder Treatment Options
Once you have recognized that your child is struggling with an eating disorder, it is only natural to want to identify and access the right type of eating disorder treatment and level of support needed as quickly as possible. Finding the right type of care can be very overwhelming. There are many options: some public and some private, some inpatient and some outpatient, and of varying intensities and philosophies.
In today’s blog I wanted to break down for you the various eating disorder treatment options available and what each of them entails so you can know your choices and have more confidence and clarity in deciding the best next step for your child (and your family as a whole).
Eating Disorder Treatment Options:
Hospitalization- Inpatient Treatment in Hospital:
Eating disorders are a very dangerous mental health condition and at the highest severity, one may need to be medically monitored and medically re-fed in inpatient care at the hospital for a duration of time. It is important to note that the goal of this level of care is not a complete recovery, but rather to address the symptoms that may be immediately life threatening. As such, stays for hospitalization are more short term than other treatment options.
Once someone is medically stable, they will be discharged, but the journey to recovery is far from over. To prevent relapse, which can happen quickly in the same environment one got sick in, there will need to be a smooth transition into a lower intensity of care at the time of discharge to address ongoing recovery beyond physical stabilization (see more treatment options below).
Inpatient hospitalization is typically reserved for those who are medically unstable, which looks like:
Abnormal vital signs
Indications of health complications that could be life threatening
Organ failure
Suicidal ideation
Severe electrolyte disturbances
Residential Treatment- Inpatient Care:
This level of care may be needed for someone who has been hospitalized numerous times, and still needs a high intensity of support and more long term care. Here, you are temporarily living at the eating disorder treatment facility and will receive different types of therapy, nutrition support, meal support, group support and more. The types of programming and approach offered may vary depending on the facility you choose.
Hospital Day Treatment Program- Outpatient Care:
Day treatment programs will require attendance during daytime hours, typically only on weekdays. Here, the individual in care will spend their days being treated and supported at the hospital, and then will come home to sleep.
Day treatment programs will include:
Medical care
Group therapy
Group meal support
Nutrition education
Individual and family therapy
Outpatient Day Treatment- Private Treatment Facility:
Similar to treatment offerings at hospital day programs, this level of care can also be done at a private facility, where you spend your daytime hours being supported in treatment and then come home to sleep.
The reason to choose private care vs in hospital care may come down to a shorter waitlist, or choosing a facility that aligns with your values differently (in terms of philosophy, programming and offerings).
Virtual Outpatient Care:
Virtual outpatient programs will provide outpatient care of varying degrees of intensity, from home.
Programming will be similar to day programs and will vary depending on which program you choose. Overall you will receive less intensity and appointment frequency than inpatient or hospital day programs, but will have a care team typically including therapy support, nutrition support, and sometimes family support. Group meal support may be offered virtually, but not always, and is often an add on to program instead if something inclusive in the treatment itself.
Virtual Intensive Care:
Noticing a gap in care, we created a new offering for treatment: virtual intensive care. This means that you are receiving the intensity, support and frequency of inpatient care, from the comfort of your own home.
You receive:
Full family support: family coaching, family nutrition support, learning how to navigate recovery and meals at home, real time communication anytime you need
Nutrition support: refeeding, meal planning, food normalization, nutrition education, navigating food behaviors, symptom interruption
Full meal and snack support: individual support (no groups), 7 days a week
Recovery coaching: exploring the function of the eating disorder, distress tolerance techniques, strengthening the healthy self, exploration of emotions, trigger identification and safety planning
Naturopathic Medicine: reviewing medical labs to inform health and nutrition goals, digestion support, hormone support, hydration and supplementation as needed
Learn more about the benefits of this approach to care here.
Family Based Therapy:
Family Based Therapy, or FBT, is an approach to eating disorder recovery that is often recommended for adolescent eating disorder recovery. Here, parents are supported by trained professionals as they deliver FBT in an outpatient setting. What is wonderful about an FBT approach, is that it recognizes that families are not a detriment, but rather an integral part of their child’s recovery process.
With FBT, family meals are at the core of treatment. The parents or caregivers are taking charge of nourishing their child, including what is served at the meal and navigating the meal time. In other words, with an FBT approach, parents plan, prepare, serve and supervise all meals.
While there are many benefits here in terms of recovering as a family unit, and being supported by your family, this can be exceptionally hard on parents as meal times can be a battleground for the eating disorder. It is important as you move through the recovery process as a family, that you remain the parent and not the food police. We have noticed that parents following this approach will reach out to us feeling very confused about what and how much to feed their child each meal and snack. This confusion can lead to room for negotiation with the eating disorder.
At the Holistic ED Recovery Center, we believe in a supported FBT approach. Our treatment program is “top heavy”, in that you as a family, as well as the individual in recovery, will receive a significant amount of guidance and support at onset of treatment (meal support, nutrition support, meal planning and guidance, family coaching and communication). In time, as the individual in recovery physically and emotionally stabilizes, you will have learned how to support your child through recovery, and with our guidance we will taper down our support (meal support and sessions) and increase to more and more family led and guided support at home.
Meal Support:
Meal support is part of any more intensive treatment program we have outlined above, but can also be used as complementary support to FBT (utilizing some supported meals each week for when you need a break) and/ or in addition to seeing weekly practitioners such as a therapist, doctor or nutritionist, or as a standalone while you are waiting to be admitted to more intensive care.
Meal support acts as a bridge between the therapeutic setting and the real world, equipping individuals with the tools, confidence, and resilience they need to maintain their recovery in everyday life. It is a cornerstone of eating disorder treatment that addresses both the psychological and physiological aspects of recovery, fostering a holistic approach to healing.
While meal support can (and eventually will need to be) done exclusively with the family, it can be highly effective to implement professional meal support at various vulnerable or particularly challenging times in eating disorder treatment.
Here at The Holistic ED Recovery Center, we offer peronalized one on one virtual meal support, 7 days a week.
My hope is that after reading through all your options above, you feel more clear about which treatment path is most needed for your child (or yourself) and what appproach and offerings you feel most aligned with. We offer free discovery calls, and this is a great place to connect with us personally, ask more questions and get the best guidance on next steps in your loved ones recovery journey. .
