Adolescent Eating Disorder Treatment Program at Walden Behavioral Care

New Treatment Program For Males and Females 12 to 17 Years Old Who Have Eating Disorders.

In response to a major increase in eating disorders in adolescents, Walden Behavioral Care launched a new program for males and females 12 to 17 years old who have eating disorders.

The adolescent eating disorder program will include in-patient treatment for adolescents with acute eating disorders and an after-school program for all other adolescents. Both eating disorder programs will be located at Walden's facility at Children's Hospital Boston in Waltham. Walden also expects to offer the adolescent program at other locations in the near future.

"There has been a frightening increase in eating disorders among the very young," Dr. Koman said. "The good news, though, is that the recovery rate can be very high. It is best to treat adolescents, who are typically in the early stages of an eating disorder, rather than wait until they are adults and have established unhealthy behavior over many years."

A 10-year study concluded in 1996 found that 86% of all victims of eating disorders reach the onset of their illness before age 20, according to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD).

The after-school adolescent eating disorder treatment program will offer therapy three days a week in the early afternoon and evening. It will include concurrent sessions for parents and siblings.

"Staff for the adolescent program are committed to providing the most advanced evidence-based treatment to best assess and treat patients struggling with eating disorders," according to Melissa B. Freizinger, Ph.D., Director of Walden's Intensive Outpatient Care Program.

While family support can help people of all ages, it is especially important in the treatment of young people, according to Dr. Koman. Having separate sessions for parents and other family members will give them an opportunity to learn to help not only their children who have eating disorders, but themselves.

"Whole Health" Multidisciplinary Treatment Approach

The adolescent eating disorder treatment programs will combine many types of therapy, including dialectical behavioral therapy, nutritional therapy and expressive therapy, as well as supervised family meals. Walden developed and follows a 'whole health' approach, a multidisciplinary approach that treats each patient's medical, psychiatric and behavioral symptoms.

"We've been receiving many requests for an adolescent treatment program, so we're responding to the existing demand," Dr. Koman said.

Walden Behavioral Care is one of only a few hospitals in the country to offer a complete continuum of programs for individuals with eating disorders, including in-patient care, residential treatment, partial hospital treatment and intensive outpatient treatment.

Walden's Eating Disorders Program treats a variety of eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa, a psychological disorder characterized by an aversion to eating and fear of gaining weight; bulimia nervosa, a condition where sufferers typically purge food they have eaten by self-induced vomiting, use of laxatives or other means, and binge eating disorder, which is characterized by uncontrollable, excessive eating.