What does treatment look like?
In cases where an eating disorder is diagnosed by a primary care provider and/or an eating disorder specialist, there are three main settings in which treatment is offered.
Outpatient Care
Usually, the first line of treatment, children and young people who are medically stable may be supported with weekly therapy that involves the use of both one-on-one and family-based approaches. The focus of outpatient care is on ensuring that problematic eating behaviours are addressed and that physical symptoms improve.
Inpatient Care
Also known as intensive care, in cases where a child or young person requires medical intervention and stabilization, 24-hour care is delivered in a hospital or eating disorder unit. Supports include medical monitoring and intervention by a range of health professionals (e.g., psychiatrists, nurses, psychologists, dieticians, social workers, etc.), and the treatment goals include restoring nutrition and interrupting eating disorder symptoms. Parents and caregivers, along with other family members, are both supported and engaged in this process to ensure that care continues and stability is sustained once a child or young person returns to the home.
Day Treatment
This type of support is meant for young people who are medically stable but not quite ready for outpatient care. Supports from a multidisciplinary team are provided in a clinic that the individual attends during daytime hours, 5 days a week. The focus of day treatment programs is on education and sustaining gains made in intensive or inpatient care settings.
A range of evidence-based, psychotherapeutic approaches can be used in each of these settings (and are often combined to offer a comprehensive set of supports), including:
- Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), an approach that focuses on shifting the beliefs, values and ways of thinking that sustain the eating disorder. This, in turn, helps shape new eating behaviours.
- Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), which involves support to identify, manage and regulate intense emotions that underlie the eating disorder. DBT blends elements of CBT with mindfulness and acceptance techniques.
- Emotion-focused therapy (EFT) helps children and young people to learn techniques to manage difficult emotions in ways that don’t involve controlled eating.
- Family-based therapies actively engage parents, caregivers, siblings, and chosen family members in treatment as a way of helping them to help children and young people establish healthy eating and control the symptoms of the eating disorder.
- Peer support for both the children and young people, as well as parents, caregivers and family members, brings people together who are managing different challenges to both give and get support from one another.
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