The experts of the Eating and Weight Disorders Program are skilled in a range of therapies and treatments, including the following:
Enhanced Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy: Enhanced Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT-E) is an empirically supported treatment that addresses the interplay between thoughts, feelings and behaviors as they contribute to the symptoms of eating disorders (Fairburn, 2008). Typically patients attend therapy individually but family members can be included as deemed appropriate (e.g., with adolescents).
CBT is a short-term therapy approach that targets changing thinking and behavior patterns in order to facilitate changes in emotions. The treatment teaches active coping skills that help lead to symptom reduction and carries with it protection against relapse into prior eating disorder patterns. Visit the Centre for Research on Eating Disorders at Oxford website for additional information about CBT-E.
Acceptance-based Mirror Exposure Treatment (A-MET): Many individuals suffer from body image concerns. However, this scrutiny is more severe among individuals with eating disorders. Symptoms of body image disturbance remain the most resistant to treatment and are often predictive of relapse following recovery.
Patients with eating disorders often have negatively-biased views of their bodies, and often avoid looking at themselves in the mirror as a result. A-MET involves exposing a patient to his or her own body in a mirror while asking the patient to describe it to the therapist in a neutral manner. This process, repeated by the patient during each session, involves the therapist monitoring the description for judgmental language and redirecting the patient to use non-judgmental language when deviations occur. Body checking and avoidance and body dissatisfaction are the main targets of this intervention. Refer to this Adjunctive Mirror Exposure study for additional information.
For more information or to make an appointment:
1425 Madison Ave. (corner or 98th St. and Madison Ave.)
ICAHN Building, Floor 6, Room 32
New York, NY 10029