We know that families seeking treatment for eating disorders are often scared and overwhelmed. They may find themselves with questions like: Why did my child develop an eating disorder? Is it my fault? What can we do to help?
Our team of child & adolescent psychologists here in Bellevue, WA will support your family with compassion, guidance, and state-of-the-art eating disorder treatment options based on scientific research. Treatment plans may include a combination of individual therapy, skills groups, and nutrition services. As part of an interdisciplinary clinic, we are able to take on complex cases and engage expertise across our DBT and Anxiety & OCD programs to target co-occurring diagnoses.
Our goal at Cadence Child & Adolescent Therapy is to achieve recovery and prevent future relapse while also graduating clients out of treatment in a timely manner. Our primary approach to treating eating disorders is a therapy modality known as Family Based Treatment or FBT.
The duration of treatment depends on severity of eating disorder and comorbidities, medical stability, weight restoration goals, and family factors.
Anorexia is one of the most well-known types of eating disorders, and is also the most deadly. Up to 0.4% of adolescent girls (and 0.1% of young men) are diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, and young people with anorexia are up to 12 times more likely to die than their peers.
Binge-eating disorder was only recognized in the DSM in the latest edition (published in 2013). Teens with binge-eating disorder engage in periods of eating faster and in larger quantities than usual. Usually, a binge-eating episode lasts around 2 hours.
Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder that causes teens to go through periods of binge-eating, in which they eat a large quantity of food over a short period of time. Then, they find ways to “purge” or to get rid of the excess calories consumed.
It’s not as well-known in the general public, but ARFID, or avoidant-restrictive food intake disorder, is actually one of the most common eating disorders among children and teens. ARFID affects up to 3% of the general population, and over 20% of children receiving inpatient care for an eating disorder have ARFID.
