Is Outpatient Eating Disorder Therapy Right For Me?

I provide eating disorder therapy at an outpatient level of care. As defined by the American Psychiatric Association, outpatient therapy is the lowest level of eating disorder. This level of care may not be appropriate for everyone.

During your intake, we will obtain information from you that will determine if you are appropriate for outpatient therapy. We ask all clients receiving eating disorder therapy to undergo a medical screening and provide a medical clearance from their primary care physician to support an outpatient level of care.

Criteria For Outpatient Eating Disorder Therapy

Per the Academy of Eating Disorders guidelines "Eating Disorders: A Guide to Medical Care", to receive treatment at the outpatient level of care, individuals should:

Be medically stable as identified in the AED guidelines.
Be at a high enough weight with medical clearance
Be able to manage suicidal thoughts if they have them
Have fair to good motivation to recover
Be able to independently manage the meals needed to gain or maintain weight
Be able to manage compulsive exercise
Be able to follow evidence-based interventions that require independent client monitoring.
Exhibit minimal incidents of purging in an unstructured setting

The AED "Eating Disorders: A Guide to Medical Care"

Why Is Medical Stability Important?

Eating disorders are complicated and serious brain-based disorders that can have significant medical and psychiatric morbidity and mortality, according to the Academy of Eating Disorders. Patients can have all body shapes and sizes with an eating disorder. Size and appearance are not indicative of health; therefore, medical clearance is an integral foundation to outpatient eating disorder therapy. If patients are not medically stable, other levels of care may be recommended.

Eating Disorder Levels Of Care

Levels of Eating Disorder Care Are:

Medical hospitalization provides 24-hour care in a medical hospital, typically required for patients who are medically unstable (low heart rate, low blood pressure, or electrolyte imbalances) and need round-the-clock medical monitoring. Care can include intravenous replacement of electrolytes (salts in our blood), tube feeds, and constant monitoring of vital signs.

Residential treatment (RTC) provides 24-hour care for those who are mostly medically stable but require round-the-clock supervision of behaviors and meals to remain stable. Patients attend group therapy and sessions with a psychiatrist, therapist, and dietitian between meals and snacks.

Partial hospitalization (PHP) allows the patient to sleep at home and attend a treatment center during the day. Individuals can attend the program a minimum of five days a week for times usually ranging from six to 11 hours per day. Most meals are taken at the treatment center, but the patient has some meals at home. Patients attend groups and individual sessions as they do in RTC.

Intensive outpatient treatment (IOP) usually includes three hours of programming for three to five days a week. Usually, each visit includes one meal or snack and two hours of group and individual counseling. At this level of care, the patient lives at home and is often able to work or attend school outside of treatment hours.

Outpatient treatment (this is what I provide) usually consists of individual meetings once or twice a week with a therapist, a dietitian, or both. The patient lives at home and usually attends work or school or participates in other activities.