• Family-Based Treatment (FBT): Also called Maudsley Approach, family-based treatment be used to help break secrecy surrounding a disorder, rebuild trust, and teach families how to give effective support. This is currently the most effective evidence-based treatment for children and adolescents.

• Group therapy: Group therapy can help the individual feel like they are not alone in their illness. It can help them to cope with disappointments, celebrate their recovery victories and deal with any shame they are feeling.

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): CBT can change negative thought and behavioural patterns and focuses on creating personal coping strategies. This is currently the most effective evidence-based treatment for adults. It can also help to improve the perception of body image.

• Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT): Focuses on providing emotional therapy for individuals. This includes teaching mindfulness, increasing negative emotional tolerance, overall emotional regulation and positive interpersonal communication.

• Emotion-focused therapy (EFT): EFT teaches individuals how to create safe and healthy relationships with themselves and the people around them3.  Eating disorders can often be caused by past trauma or hidden feelings that the individual may have. EFT can provide the tools to help recognize and deal with the cause of the eating disorder.

• Outpatient Treatment: The individual receives therapy from a psychologist and/or dietician once or multiple times per week.

• Inpatient Treatment: The individual is admitted to a hospital and is treated and monitored extensively in that setting. This type of treatment is ideally reserved for those who are medically unstable and require constant supervision by medical professionals.

• Day Treatment: The individual goes to a full-day program multiple times per week where they receive various forms of psychological therapy, meal-time supervision, and nutritional guidance and counselling.

• Live-In Treatment: The individual stays in a home-like setting where they receive meal-time supervision and participate in various forms of counselling and professional guidance from a registered dietician. Explore our live-in recovery centre here.

A qualitative study on eating disorders identified
six different categories for the success of recovery:

1. Internal motivation to change. Many people who have eating disorders will either be in denial that they have an eating disorder or they will deny that it is a problem. It is important to encourage and support your loved one but until they decide to make changes for themselves, recovery will be slow.

2. Recovery is a process: It is important to remember that recovery is a work in progress. Eating disorders are not about food or weight, they are about an internal struggle that is more difficult to change. It will take a lot of time, patience and support. Don’t get discouraged if your loved one slips.

3. Perceptions about treatment: It can be valuable to have support from those who are going through similar experiences (example support groups). Eating disorders hold deeper issues that are not easily talked about or understood unless you have one. One of the steps to recovery is believing that it will work.

4. Developing a life outside of eating disorders: Eating disorders can be all consuming for those involved. Supportive relationships are incredibly beneficial to have during times of uncertainty and recovery. In addition, to support during recovery, it can help to develop relationships and a sense of normality outside of their disorder.

5. Awareness and tolerance of negative emotion: Eating disorders carry a lot of shame and negative self-talk. This is one of the hardest aspects of eating disorders to overcome, however it IS possible.

6. Self-validation: In addition to negative emotions, positive reassurance from the individual themselves can also help improve recovery.