Picking an ED Therapist

Identifying Professionals with Expertise in the Treatment of Eating Disorders:

Eating disorders are extremely complex problems that require very specialized treatment. Treatment requires an in-depth understanding of the physiological, nutritional and psychological issues that contribute to, and result from, the eating disordered behaviors. Appropriate treatment requires a complete treatment team, including a therapist, dietitian and at least one medical doctor. Each member of the treatment team should have experience and specialized knowledge regarding eating disorder treatment, and each must be willing to work with the other providers to create a team approach.

When interviewing potential therapists, consider the following questions:

1. Do they have dietitians and doctors with whom they work closely? Do they speak with them regularly?

2. Does the therapist understand the physiology of eating disorders? Do they know the data from the “Keys Study”?

3. What specialized training did they receive with regards to eating disorder treatment?

4. For treatment of adolescents, are they familiar with Family Based Treatment?

Appropriate training to provide eating disorder treatment goes well beyond simply achieving an advanced degree in the relevant field of study (ie, psychology, nutrition, medicine). Eating disorder treatment is generally only briefly covered in training, if at all, so professionals that provide this type of treatment need significant specialty training to provide appropriate care. Fortunately, there are a number of providers across the nation that have specialized to a high degree and are able to provide skilled treatment for these very difficult disorders.