The plethora of treatment options and modalities obfuscate the clear and effective protocol to treat someone with an eating disorder. It’s too easy to get lost in all the ways to get help, yet what works hasn’t changed at all.
Various new programs and offerings create a confusing breadth of ways to consider treatment. Online partial hospitalization or outpatient programs, virtual team treatment, new supposed medication cures and even text therapy businesses make it hard for the newcomer to find a treatment path that can lead to recovery.
The combination of virtual mental health care that arose during the pandemic and the entrance of finance companies angling to capture some of the health insurance market share has put the health of eating disorder patients on the back burner.
Outpatient treatment entails a primary therapist well versed in the course of eating disorder recovery, not someone who dabbles in these illnesses, a dietitian knowledgeable about meal planning for eating disorders and also experienced with nutrition therapy and a primary care doctor to track any health concerns in the process. Sometimes a short-term group therapy or more specialized doctors are necessary. Psychiatric medications are often a part of treatment as well.
Choosing a team of providers with enough expertise to chart a course towards wellness is critical. In addition, recovery is a personal and emotionally intense experience; thus, patients need to prioritize finding clinicians with whom they feel safe and comfortable.
Because recovery is so hard, people unconsciously find ways to hide, and learning how to be open is an important part of getting well. Virtual work has become the norm for so many people, but it is very easy to hide behind a screen. At least for part of the treatment, meeting in person always benefits recovery.
When outpatient treatment isn’t sufficient, residential programs and hospital-based support are necessary. There are a handful of hospitals with experience treating people with eating disorders, and patients should seek this places out for optimal care. The landscape of outpatient programs has been transformed by venture capital funds. My recommendation lately is for shorter stays at residential centers, one to two months, during which patients put together an outpatient team for the transition back to their lives. Most residential programs are no longer set up for longer stays but instead help restore enough nutrition to do the true work at home.
Despite the changing eating disorder treatment field, I would advise patients seeking care to follow these guidelines. Ignoring the calls from well-funded companies luring people into their programs is wise. It still may take some work to find the best fit for each individual person, but the time invested is worth the outcome.
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