Eating Disorders Program
Whole Person Wellness and Eating Disorder Program
Camden Center’s Whole Person Wellness and Eating Disorder Program supports individuals struggling with body image distress, disordered eating, and diagnosed eating disorders. As a medical organization that integrates primary care, psychiatry, psychotherapy, nutrition, fitness, coaching, and community-based approaches, Camden Center is able to provide truly comprehensive treatment at multiple levels of care, allowing patients not only to recover but to also build happy, productive, and meaningful lives.
THE CAMDEN APPROACH TO EATING DISORDER TREATMENT
Patients at Camden Center receive innovative, evidence-based treatments for eating disorders administered by a diverse team of expert clinicians across medical, integrative, psychotherapeutic, somatic, and nutritional modalities. As part of their individualized care, each patient receives a unique clinical team assembled to meet their specific needs and goals. No two patients have the same schedule and every patient’s treatment plan is re-evaluated each week, with changes made in real time based upon feedback and progress. Provided that a patient is medically stable, we utilize a flexible approach to eating disorder treatment in order to meet the person at their current readiness for change, and allow for individualized pacing. Camden Center’s model is based on the principle that the best outcomes result from dynamically matching treatment to the changing clinical needs of each patient as they progress in their recovery.
PHILOSOPHY AND FRAMEWORK
Eating disorders typically begin as a coping mechanism to manage chronic emotional pain resulting from shame-based aspects of identity that are themselves the consequence of developmental stressors and trauma. Camden Center works to strengthen each individual’s “healthy self” through a dual process in which individuals develop healthier behaviors related to food while also addressing the underlying emotional, biological, developmental, and functional causes of disordered eating. This can include attending to co-occurring diagnoses such as mood disorders, personality disorders, or addiction as part of a comprehensive plan.
Camden Center clinicians utilize aspects of several philosophical approaches to the treatment of eating disorders including Health at Every Size (HAES), the intuitive eating movement, traditional eating disorder treatment modalities, and the Food-As-Medicine Movement. Camden also recognizes that sensory sensitivities and sensory processing differences can impact an individual's relationship with food and their experience of eating. A sensory assessment completed by an occupational therapist may be conducted as part of treatment at Camden Center and can provide insight into the most effective ways to support individuals with disordered eating behaviors while acknowledging and respecting their unique sensory experience.
All core staff at Camden Center and Camden Residences are trained in eating disorder treatment best practices, allowing us to provide therapeutic meal support both at the center and our residences. We have also built our other clinical programs with the understanding that even those patients who do not have eating disorders or disordered eating can benefit from improving their relationship with food and their bodies. Therefore, our policies at the residences and center utilize weight-neutral language and philosophies.
PROGRAMMING
- Medical support
- Psychiatry
- Integrative and primary care medicine
- Registered Dietitian (RD) support and nutrition
- Occupational therapy
- Psychotherapy including Comprehensive Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Somatic Experiencing, and psychodynamic therapy, among other modalities
- Clinician-supported meals
Through our whole person and integrative approach, we are able to treat:
- Anorexia Nervosa
- Bulimia Nervosa
- Binge Eating Disorder
- Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) and other disordered eating patterns secondary to sensory differences and sensitivities
- Body dysmorphia and body image distress, including Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)
- Orthorexia
- Compulsive overexercise
- Unspecified Eating Disorders