Eating Disorder Inpatient Treatment at Walden Behavioral Care

Inpatient treatment for patients with eating disorders is the most intensive level of care Walden provides. Even for patients at this advanced stage, the focus is on a planned, step-by-step process of recovery.

The first priority of Eating Disorder Inpatient Treatment is to stabilize the patient. Eating disorders can result in severe medical complications. They can damage a person's brain, liver, kidneys, heart, GI tract, bones, teeth, skin and hair. They can result in osteoporosis, retarded growth, kidney problems and heart disease. Given these life-threatening conditions, it's no wonder that the National Institute of Mental Health found that 15- to 24-year-old females diagnosed with anorexia are 12 times more likely to die than those without anorexia.

Yet Eating Disorder Inpatient Treatment is a gradual process. Immediately providing a patient with anorexia with a normal diet, for example, can result in re-feeding syndrome, which can cause heart failure or other medical problems.

During Eating Disorder Inpatient Treatment, vital signs are monitored frequently and 24-hour nursing supervision is provided. Occasionally, intravenous fluid or nasogastric tube feeding is needed to prevent further deterioration of the patient's condition.

Eating Disorder Inpatient Treatment should be provided only in an acute inpatient setting. Walden Behavioral Care has the only Eating Disorder Inpatient Treatment program in New England that is in a setting that is dedicated to treating eating disorders.

Who the Walden Eating Disorder Inpatient Treatment Program Serves

Walden provides Eating Disorder Inpatient Treatment for patients 13 or older with advanced anorexia, bulimia, binge-eating disorder or other eating disorders. Eating Disorder Inpatient Treatment is for patients who cannot be treated successfully using a lower level of care or who have not responded to treatment at a lower level of care.

Goals of Eating Disorder Inpatient Treatment

Goals of Eating Disorder Inpatient Treatment include:

• Medical and behavioral stabilization
• Acceptance of need to change disordered behaviors
• Introduction to psychotherapy
• Discharge planning

Program Hours: Eating Disorder Inpatient Treatment

Eating Disorder Inpatient Treatment requires 24-hour supervision. While around-the-clock supervision is provided, the program day begins at 6:15 a.m. and ends at 11 p.m.

Duration: Eating Disorder Inpatient Treatment

Medical stabilization is typically achieved in one to two weeks when the patient adheres closely to Eating Disorder Inpatient Treatment. At that point, the patient is ready to advance to a less intensive level of care.

What Eating Disorder Inpatient Treatment Includes

Treatment includes case management, medical evaluation and management, nutrition counseling, and individual, family and group therapy. Meals, snacks and, when indicated, bathroom use are supervised. Case managers conduct individual and family therapy, and establish and coordinate care with an outpatient team. Patients earn increasingly more freedom and privileges as they stabilize and move toward recovery.

Intensive inpatient medical care is appropriate only for individuals who are medically and behaviorally unstable, and cannot be treated successfully in a less intensive level of care.

A Typical Day of Eating Disorder Inpatient Treatment at Walden

Are You Researching Intensive Outpatient Eating Disorder Treatment Programs To Help Someone With An Eating Disorder?

If you suspect you or someone you know has an eating disorder, contact us at Walden Behavioral Care at 781-647-6700 or Info@waldenbehavioralcare.com.

Besides our Intensive Outpatient Eating Disorder Program, Walden offers inpatient, residential, and partial hospitalization programs, providing discrete, highly specialized treatment for patients 13 and older with anorexia, bulimia, binge-eating disorder and other eating disorders.