Eating Disorders: When Outpatient Treatment Is Not Enough - Treatment for Eating Disorders

Written by HealthyPlace.com Staff Writer

This list of ingredients is a good guide, but choosing a treatment program will still be a difficult decision to make with many factors to consider. The following questions will provide additional information that is useful in making the right decision.

• What is the overall philosophy of treatment, including the program's position on psychological, behavioral, and addictive approaches? ?
• How are meals handled? Is vegetarianism allowed? What happens if the meal plan isn't followed?
• Is there an exercise component other than walks or recreational activities?
• How many patients have been treated and/or are some available to speak with you?
• What kind of background and qualifications do staff members have? Are any or many recovered?
• What is the patient schedule (e.g., how many and what kind of groups are held daily, how much leisure time is there? how much supervision versus treatment takes place)?
• What step-down levels of care are provided, and what are the arrangements for individual therapy? Who performs it and how often?
• What are the outpatient or aftercare treatment and follow-up services? What is considered noncompliance, and what are the consequences?
• What is considered to be the average length of stay and why?
• What are the fees? Are there any extra fees besides those quoted that may occur? How are fees and payments arranged?
• What books or literature are given or recommended?
• Is it possible to meet with a staff member, visit a group, or talk to current patients?

Since different patients will be looking for different things in a treatment program, providing the "right" answers to the above questions is not possible. Individuals considering a treatment program for themselves or a loved one should ask the questions and get as much information as they can from various programs in order to compare options and select which program is most suitable.

The following information on Monte Nido, my residential program in Malibu, California, provides an idea of the philosophy, treatment goals, and schedule of a twenty-four-hour care facility specializing exclusively in anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and activity disorders.

MONTE NIDO TREATMENT CENTER

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Eating disorders are progressive and debilitating illnesses requiring medical, nutritional, and psychological intervention. Individuals suffering from eating disorders often need a structured environment to achieve recovery. However, all too often a person does well in a highly structured, regimented environment only to fall into relapse upon returning to a less structured situation. Our residential program is designed to meet the individual needs of clients and their families in a way that gives them a higher level of responsibility and "teaches" them how to recover. The atmosphere at Monte Nido is professional and structured, but it is also warm, friendly, and family like. Our dedicated staff, many of whom are recovered themselves, serve as role models, and our environment inspires people to commit to overcoming obstacles that are interfering with the quality of their lives.

The program at Monte Nido is designed to provide behavior and mood stabilization, creating a climate where destructive behaviors can be interrupted. Clients can then work on the crucial underlying issues that caused and/or perpetuate their disordered eating and other dysfunctional behaviors. We provide a structured schedule with education, psychodynamic, and cognitive behavioral therapy; corrective eating patterns; healthy exercise; life skills training; and spiritual enhancement, all in our beautiful, serene country setting.

Our treatment philosophy includes restoring biochemical functioning and nutritional balance, implementing healthy eating and exercise habits, changing destructive behaviors, and gaining insight and coping skills for underlying emotional and psychological issues. We believe that eating disorders are illnesses which, when treated correctly, can result in full recovery where the individual can resume a normal, healthy relationship to food.

Nutrition and exercise are not simply a part of our program. We recognize these as crucial areas of recovery. Therefore, we require assessments on nutritional status, metabolism, and biochemistry, and we teach patients what this information means in terms of their recovery. Our exercise physiologist and fitness trainer perform thorough assessments and develop a fitness plan suitable for each client's needs. Our detailed attention to the nutrition and exercise component of treatment reveals our dedication to these areas as part of a plan for a healthy, lasting recovery.