By Mia Donley MPH, RD

When living with an eating disorder, the thought of seeking treatment can be scary. 

The anxiety surrounding treatment might make you feel like it's out of reach, especially when you imagine yourself having to disrupt your life to live at a treatment center, and are aware of the high costs of residential treatment. But there are options to get help for eating disorders right from the comfort of your own home. Outpatient eating disorder treatment is an accessible, affordable option that can open the doorway to healing and recovery. 

What Is Outpatient Eating Disorder Treatment Like? 

Outpatient eating disorder treatment programs allow you to have a professional support system and a peer network in the context of your own, family, and life.This can be helpful for individuals who do not live near a treatment facility, whose families or careers do not allow for them to be away for treatment, or for those who simply aren’t ready for inpatient treatment but still want help to overcome their eating disorder. 

What Types of Treatments Are Offered in Outpatient Treatment? 

You typically have access to a wide range of therapies and interventions to help you. These include individual and group therapy sessions, nutrition therapy, peer support, support groups, and a wide range of strategies to manage cravings and eating disorder behaviors. At Arise, we believe that it’s important to personalize treatment to each person because everyone has a unique set of experiences. We utilize evidence-based treatment approaches and our clinical team will work with you in the first session to identify the most suitable approaches for your healing journey.

Some of the resources you can expect to find include:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT is designed to help you address unhelpful or harmful thoughts and modify how you respond to them. By learning to identify the connection between your thoughts, feelings, and actions, you can start to make positive changes. This can include learning to identify and contest your thoughts about your self-worth and body image that fuel your eating disorder, as well as unhelpful beliefs you may have about food or dieting.

CBT is highly effective and can be personalized to suit your unique situation. Exercises often include challenging thoughts, identifying cognitive biases, journaling, and doing the opposite action — acting the opposite of how you usually would in a triggering situation. 

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)

DBT for eating disorders focuses on building skills like distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and mindfulness to overcome your struggles. It can teach you how to see your situation from a new perspective and explore alternative responses to your thoughts and beliefs.

Group Therapy

Group therapy complements individual therapy; it can follow various models, such as CBT or DBT, and it gives you a space to hear from others and share your own story. Realizing you aren’t alone in your eating disorder battle can make a tremendous difference. It can also help you inspire others with your own story. 

Peer-led Support Groups

Support groups are less formal than group therapy, but they are an excellent resource for your recovery. Peer-led groups place people in ED recovery as the leaders, offering guidance for conversations that allow you to learn from others’ lived experiences and glean insights from their battles. Support groups hold space for everyone’s unique story; you are welcome to come as you are.

Family Therapy

Family therapy is an important part of building a healthy support system for someone with ED. Many people who have an eating disorder struggle with their interpersonal relationships. Concerned family members may have grown frustrated or internalized their struggles, and there may be conflict surrounding your ED and treatment. Therapy gives everyone a chance to learn and heal together. There are educational sessions to let your loved ones know more about your disorder; there are also mediated conversations that help each person express themselves and feel heard. Most of all, family therapy teaches healthier communication and conflict-resolution skills to help you move forward. 

Nutritional Management 

Managing your food intake might feel daunting, but the role of nutritional support is not to make you fixate on food. Instead, your eating disorder dietitian will help you learn more about food, break free from diet culture beliefs, and learn skills like intuitive eating and mindful eating to reshape your relationship with food. 

Medication-Based Approaches

Some outpatient eating disorder treatments also offer medication assistance. These medications may help you cope with depression or anxiety more effectively; they could be a useful tool for someone with underlying mental health disorders that play into their eating habits. 

While you are not obligated to take medication for eating disorder treatment, it may help to speak with a psychiatrist if you also struggle with depression, anxiety, PTSD, or other mental health conditions. They can explore different options and explain how medication may be able to help you achieve balance and stability.

Complementary Wellness Approaches 

Many complementary therapies can help you take care of yourself during eating disorder treatment. Yoga, meditation, and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy are some of the most popular holistic treatments used in outpatient settings.

Who Is a Good Candidate for Outpatient Treatment?

Outpatient eating disorder treatment is suitable for a wide range of patients. It is open to people of all ages and backgrounds as well as all genders. People who are occupied with work, school, or caregiving might find outpatient therapy to be a more realistic treatment model for their needs. It is best for those who are already medically stable.

Outpatient treatment can also help people who have already completed inpatient or outpatient programs continue their recovery. First-timers as well as returning patients are welcome. Relapse does not bar you from treatment. You are always welcome to get the support you deserve. 

What Is an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) for Eating Disorders Like? 

IOPs take place three to five days a week for three to five hours at a time. They include individual and group counseling, nutritional education, and support groups. IOPs are ideal for people transitioning out of higher levels of care like partial hospitalization programs (PHP), people who need more than weekly therapy sessions. Arise is considered an outpatient+ program, which means we can often stretch up to providing IOP level of support such as therapy processing groups, meal support, nutrition education, and more.

What Types of Treatment Can Be Offered Outpatient? 

There are three main types of eating disorder outpatient treatment:

• Virtual — You meet with your team online using your phone or computer. 
• Hybrid — You have a combination of in-person and virtual sessions.
• In-person — All of your sessions are held in person at an outpatient treatment facility. 

Arise takes an entirely virtual approach to make treatment as accessible and convenient as possible.

Treatment That Meets You Where You Are

Arise is a unique outpatient+ program that offers comprehensive care to people who need eating disorder support so that they can continue in the context of their lives. This means that we offer a comprehensive team of therapists, dietitians, psychiatrists, and primary care doctors that you typically would see in the outpatient setting, but we also offer resources like peer support, groups, nutrition education, meal support, therapy processing groups that you would typically only see in higher levels of care. Our affordable, inclusive eating disorder treatments are covered by major insurance carriers and Medicaid; we also offer monthly self-pay options.

From peer and group support to a personal care advocate, you’ll have holistic support  — right from home. Does this resonate? Get started with Arise.