Approach to Eating Disorder Treatment

We also offer a variety of tried and tested therapy techniques at Priory, which have been found to be effective when treating eating disorders. You can access these on an outpatient, day care or inpatient basis, as well as in different formats.

The therapeutic methods that we use are selected based on your individual needs and what will be best for you. Some of our therapies specifically address eating disorder related thoughts and feelings, whereas others may be helpful for any other conditions and symptoms you’re going through e.g. anxiety, depression, self-harm and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The types of therapy that we offer include:

• Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
• Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT)
• Mindfulness
• Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR)
• Cognitive analytic therapy (CAT)
• Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)
• Interpersonal therapy (IPT)
• Compassion focused therapy (CFT)
• Emotion focused therapy (EFT)
• Person centred therapy (PCT)
• Psychodynamic counselling
• Integrative counselling
• Schema therapy
• Solution focused therapy
• Psychoeducation
• Art therapy
• Wellbeing activities

For more detailed information on each of these types of therapy, you can visit our therapy types page.

Our highly qualified eating disorder treatment teams can also provide a range of therapies and techniques that have been specifically designed to treat eating disorders. These are normally used during inpatient treatment, and include:

• Maudsley Model of Anorexia Nervosa Treatment for Adults (MANTRA)
• CBT for eating disorders
• DBT for eating disorders
• Dietetic support and advice
• Meal and post-meal support
• Occupational therapy including food exposure interventions
• Body image workshops
• Psychoeducation focused on eating disorders
• Eating disorder focused family therapy and carer support groups

At Priory, we understand that it can be incredibly difficult for families and loved ones to watch someone they care about struggle with an eating disorder. That's why we offer specialist family support to the families, carers and loved ones of our eating disorder patients. Our family support sessions usually happen on a weekly basis and can be delivered in either an online or face-to-face capacity. The sessions focus on educating family members about eating disorders and cover topics such as:

• Understanding eating disorders
• Specialist skills when living with someone with an eating disorder
• Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for eating disorders, known as CBT-enhanced (CBT-E) - an understanding of this therapy model and how to apply it from a carer's perspective
• Managing difficult conversations
• The impact of the eating disorder on the individual/family, helping you to process your own experiences of your loved one's eating disorder
• When to stand back

Collaborative care is so important when working with this incredibly difficult diagnosis. These sessions offer a private, protected space for the families, loved ones and carers of our eating disorder patients, allowing you to learn all about eating disorders and how you can best support the patient moving forwards.

"As a parent (or carer), the moment-to-moment experience of an eating disorder is highly challenging and, at times, terrifying. Living with someone with an eating disorder is very emotionally depleting and it can impact on almost every aspect of family life. There is a constant sense of anxiety that how you respond can make such a difference, positive or negative, to your child's future health, safety and wellbeing. As a parent, I value the direct support from an expert professional, not just to discuss practical strategies but also to work through the emotional impact. I am aware that it is so important that, as parents, we look after ourselves as well as possible so that we have the emotional and psychological resources to support our children to the best of our ability, compassionately and effectively. This will also lead to better outcomes for the child's recovery process, as well as the wellbeing of the family unit." - the parent of one of our eating disorder patients, speaking about the importance of Priory's family support sessions.

At Priory, we don’t just treat adults with eating disorders; our expert child and adolescent psychiatrists can also treat young people who are struggling with these conditions. More information on the eating disorder support that we deliver to young people can be found on our young people’s therapy page.

Priory’s customer service team is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to ensure that those in crisis are signposted to the best possible support, as quickly as possible. The specialist teams at our residential facilities can help to stabilise those in need of immediate assistance for their eating disorder or other mental health concerns.