Posts Tagged ‘Ohio’

Like many other eating disorder facilities, The Emily Program offers multiple levels of care for adolescents and adults. What makes The Emily Program different is that our services are based in outpatient treatment. As The Emily Program founder Dirk Miller says, “We didn’t start as an inpatient program and develop outpatient services to support that model. The reason is pretty simple: most change occurs as an outpatient. We live our lives as ‘outpatients.’ Ultimately we must apply what’s learned to a life of recovery that we live outside the treatment program.”

Lately, I’ve wondered what we mean when we talk about recovery. Some people use the term “recovered,” others say “recovery,” and yet others don’t use either. When someone enters into treatment, either that person or their loved ones want to know our success rate. Of course, this presents the question, “Success as measured by what?” As a field, we are at a loss on this question.

By Dr. Mark Warren and clients at TEP

Recovery from an eating disorder is the clear goal of treatment, however, the scientific literature on clients’ experience of recovery is often defined in different ways. In general, the literature tends to focus on re-feeding, growth curves, medical stability, and resolution of behaviors. At TEP we fully endorse that these are the first steps towards recovery and without them no discussion of recovery can take place. That being said, recovery from an eating disorder can have various meanings for those who suffer from these illnesses. In general, there are psychological, social, and identity issues that also change when someone describes themself as being in recovery. We feel it is important to talk to our clients and their families to gain understanding of what recovery means to them. With this in mind we had a conversation with clients about this issue. We asked them to answer the question “How do i know if I am in recovery?” Please find their responses below:

Re-posted from Cleveland Center for Eating Disorders (CCED) blog archives. CCED and The Emily Program partnered in 2014.

By Drs Lucene Wisniewski and Mark Warren

Over the last 15 years Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) has gone from being virtually unknown to being a term utilized by many treatment programs. DBT is an evidence based therapy, initially designed for Borderline Personality Disorder, and more lately for other diagnoses including eating disorders (Wisniewski, L., Safer, D., & Chen, E.Y., 2007). With its increase in popularity among treatment providers it is important to be clear about what it means to “do DBT” so an individual knows if they’re receiving evidence based care.

Comprehensive DBT treatment, initially described by Marsha Linehan, has four components: Individual therapy, skills group, 7 day week phone consultation availability, and consultation team for therapists known as “therapy for therapists”. Unless all four of these components are present, a program is not providing comprehensive DBT treatment. Additionally, in order for a therapist to be capable of providing DBT, a significant training process is generally required. This training process necessitates a therapist taking a non-judgmental stance, the ability to encourage motivation and commitment with their client, extensive knowledge and understanding of the DBT skills and therapeutic techniques, and the balance of accepting where a client is while moving them towards change.

Acknowledging the facts about eating disorders

In the not so distant past, eating disorders weren’t recognized by society – or even some medical professionals – as legitimate diseases. In fact, binge eating disorder wasn’t added to the eating disorder portion of the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition) until 2013, despite being the most common eating disorder in the United States.

Our 24/7 residential facility in Cleveland is officially open! Our staff has put in many, many months of hard work creating a warm, inviting environment for clients. We are pleased with the outcome and believe The Emily Program – Residential will provide clients with the resources, treatment, and space to begin to heal.