A strong urge to eat large amounts of food within a short period of time can indicate the development of binge eating disorder. This condition makes people feel out of control and unable to control their response to these urges. Without a pursuit of binge eating disorder recovery, the disordered eating patterns can result in serious health problems over time.
People with binge eating disorder can greatly benefit from entering an effective treatment program at the first sign of the problem. Early treatment can help combat against disordered thought patterns and behaviors before they can cause complications. As there are many treatment approaches and therapy methods for binge eating disorder, it makes sense for people and their families to explore the paths to becoming recovered at the start of this journey.
Types of Treatment for Binge Eating Disorder Recovery
At binge eating treatment centers, people can follow various paths to becoming recovered. Depending on their care needs, they may either enter residential treatment programs or day treatment services. Within those types of care, there are many levels individuals can work through to achieve recovery.
Residential Programs
Residential treatment programs provide home-like settings where patients can focus solely on their recovery. Each patient receives targeted treatment from a full team of care professionals, including doctors, dietitians and psychiatrists. Each week, people have regular medical assessments and psychiatry appointments to keep a close eye on all underlying conditions and their overall state of wellbeing.
They also attend individual, family and group binge eating therapy to build skills and learn how to cope in healthy ways. Daily group therapy sessions revolve around therapy models designed to treat binge eating disorder. Some of the most effective therapies for this condition include art therapy, dialectical behavioral skills and interpersonal process. They will also meet with a dietitian on a regular basis to rebuild their relationship with food and learn how to appropriately regulate their own intake.
Residential programs provide an immersive treatment experience that allows people to address their challenges in real time. They can immediately acquire insights and support from their care team and peers at the treatment center when these challenges arise. This level of attention keeps small issues from escalating and causing setbacks in the treatment process. As people start to develop accountability and independence in managing their own care, they may transition to a day treatment level of care.
Day Treatment
Day treatment programs build upon the residential treatment model to help individuals transition back to a regular schedule. Day treatment for binge eating disorder recovery is often available on an outpatient or partial hospitalization basis. This stage of treatment focuses on building each client’s level of independence and ability to manage their eating disorder. Individuals continue to build life skills and learn how to integrate self-care routines into their lives while working through the day treatment program.
Individuals continue to develop their relationship with food and increase their comfort during mealtimes. They also learn how to effectively plan and prepare their meals while addressing the triggers and other factors that can cause challenges to arise. The day treatment environment encourages people to ramp up their daily exposure therapy exercises. Through these exposure activities, people can test their ability to handle real-life challenges while remaining on the path to recovery from binge eating disorder. Each outing offers opportunities to build and strengthen skills that can help keep disordered thoughts and behaviors from returning.
As they navigate the real world, clients can practice their coping skills and return to address their challenges with their binge eating disorder recovery specialist. Binge eating therapy can offer ways to cope with the challenges while keeping the risk of relapse to a minimum. By addressing these challenges, individuals can gain confidence, independence and accountability, which all support recovery upon transitioning out of the treatment center.
Supportive Treatment Elements for Individuals
A combination of supportive elements makes up each patient’s binge eating disorder treatment plan. These elements directly respond to the patient’s need for eating disorder treatment, medical care and psychiatric support. Here are several treatment elements that can help people who want to achieve binge eating disorder recovery.
Care for All Co-Occurring Conditions
Effective binge eating treatment centers offer care for all co-occurring conditions affecting their clients. If left untreated, these conditions can complicate the binge eating disorder recovery process. Through the concurrent treatment of all co-existing conditions, it is possible to remove many of the barriers to recovery that individuals may otherwise face. Individuals can work toward eating disorder recovery with purpose when they have the right level of care. The management of all co-occurring conditions must continue after transitioning out of care as well.
Nutrition Support
Eating disorder therapists provide all clients with nutrition support services. Dietitians and other care professionals may collaborate on helping these clients learn how to manage their food intake without worry. They may offer meal support by using the mealtimes as helpful group therapy sessions, which allows individuals to address their challenges in the moment. Therapists also provide guidance through binge eating therapy sessions, cooking classes and daily exposure exercises.
Daily Exposure Therapy
People in binge eating disorder counseling can face their fears and strengthen their skills with daily exposure therapy. These everyday activities require individuals to make an honest assessment of their challenges and work through each one. During these activities, people address trigger situations that cause distress and purposefully face them by using coping skills learned in therapy.
Binge Eating Counseling
Binge eating counseling remains an important part of the eating disorder treatment process. The counseling sessions focus on improving life skills and coping skills through targeted discussions and activities. Individuals can attend counseling as a group with their peers, on their own or with their family members. There are many different types of binge eating therapy models used to treat this condition and help people become fully recovered.
Effective Types of Binge Eating Counseling
Individuals have access to many effective binge eating therapy models while in outpatient or inpatient eating disorder treatment. With the targeted use of each therapy model, eating disorder therapists can help their clients build an entire toolkit of effective coping skills. These sessions also help individuals address the underlying issues that may have spurred the development of binge eating disorder symptoms.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy allows for the replacement of disordered thought patterns and behaviors with healthier alternatives. The therapy process centers around people facing their fears and exposing themselves to triggers. They utilize their list of coping techniques to work through the distress and minimize the impact of those situations. After each exposure session, eating disorder therapists help their clients process the information and strategize for the next session.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy
Through dialectical behavior therapy, people can build a strong toolbox full of adaptive coping skills. Each binge eating therapy session based on this model focuses on the introduction of helpful skills and practice exercises. The skill-building activities may revolve around mindfulness training, interpersonal relationship management, emotional regulation and tolerance for distress. By addressing these four areas, it is possible to give people with binge eating disorder the tools they need to become and remain recovered.
Mindfulness Training
For additional support in building this skill, individuals may undergo mindfulness training with help from their eating disorder therapist. The mindfulness training sessions tend to use meditation as a way to engage with inner thoughts and feelings. Once individuals can tap into those sensations on demand, they can practice mindfulness in everyday situations. This skill requires a lot of practice to master, which means many people continue mindfulness training as a part of their aftercare plan.
Family Therapy Sessions
Through family therapy sessions, people can gain their family’s full support and understanding. These sessions center around exploring the family dynamic and its impact on the patient’s binge eating symptoms. Therapists mediate the sessions while offering the family insights that can help everyone heal and move forward as a team. Families can come together privately or as a group of multiple families.
Eating disorder therapists assess their people’ needs to find the best therapy models to use in their treatment plan. Many people require multiple therapy models to fully build and strengthen their life skills, self-care routines, and coping techniques. With the right types of support, it is possible for people to overcome their challenges and achieve binge eating disorder recovery.
Aftercare Plan for Graduates of Binge Eating Disorder Centers
Upon becoming recovered, people will graduate from the binge eating disorder treatment program. All graduates work with their eating disorder recovery team to create an effective and supportive aftercare plan. With this plan, people can receive the support services they need to handle daily stressors and remain recovered.
Aftercare services often involve outside providers who can take over the binge eating counseling sessions and other care needs of the patient. These providers can collaborate to provide people with the highest level of care possible. Through collaborative care, all the patient’s mental and physical health conditions can remain well-managed. This helps to keep co-occurring conditions from derailing the patient’s ability to remain recovered outside of treatment.
Eating disorder treatment centers also provide educational resources and binge eating counseling groups for alumnae. The online resources give alumnae and their families the information they need to continue on the path of recovery and healing. These materials can often be viewed in real time as they are presented, and then again later as needed for additional support.
The alumnae groups promote great aftercare practices by allowing past people to maintain close connections to the treatment center staff and their peers. Through all aftercare services, graduates of binge eating disorder programs can move on with their goals outside of treatment without worrying about the risk of relapse.
How to Start the Journey Toward Binge Eating Disorder Recovery
People with binge eating disorder symptoms can take back control of their lives by acquiring care at dedicated inpatient and outpatient binge eating treatment centers. Admissions specialists await the opportunity to help people with eating disorders find and acquire their ideal level of care. People can share their challenges and treatment expectations with admissions specialists to begin their journey toward binge eating disorder recovery.
Through the completion of a thorough assessment, admissions specialists provide the care team with the info needed to create a personalized treatment plan for the patient. In response to symptom severity and other factors, people may enter inpatient or outpatient treatment programs. These programs promote the full healing of mind and body to restore the patient’s equilibrium and ability to live without binge eating disorder symptoms.