It’s every parent’s worst nightmare – discovering that their teenage child has been systematically starving him or herself in an effort to lose weight. It’s even more shocking to realize that your dangerously thin child still looks into the mirror and sees a fat person. However, the good news is that family therapy has been found to be very effective in treating anorexia in teenagers. Our anorexia treatment Delray Beach programs can help you and your child work together to develop healthy eating habits. We incorporate family therapy into all of our inpatient, outpatient, and partial hospitalization anorexia treatment Delray Beach programs.
The type of family therapy used in anorexia treatment Delray Beach programs is Maudsley therapy. It was first used by Maudsley hospital in London, 1985. The Maudsley method consists of 15 to 20 sessions spaced over about one year. It’s a form of intensive outpatient treatment in which parents are responsible for helping their children recover. Therefore, it fits in well with our anorexia treatment Delray Beach program.
In the first of three phases, you’ll work with our professionals to restore your child’s weight to healthy levels. This is the part of the anorexia treatment Delray Beach program where your child may need to be temporarily hospitalized. But, only until he or she reaches a safer weight. During this phase of your program, a therapist will be on hand to help you and your family work through any mutual food-related issues, and to help you begin correcting your child’s disordered eating habits.
The second phase of family therapy for anorexia involves allowing the teenage child to begin taking back control of his or her eating. The parents continue to supervise their child’s eating until they’re confident that the child reestablishes healthy eating habits. In the third and final phase, the therapist helps the child establish a healthy identity and helps the parents established healthy boundaries.
To conclude, if you’re the parent of an anorexic child, there’s hope. Call the Delray Center for Healing at 1-888-699-5679 today to learn more about family-based treatment.
Dr. Rodriguez founded the Delray Center in 2003 and built it on a foundation of core clinical, professional, and ethical principles that are adhered to still to this day. Dr. Rodriguez founded the Delray Center in 2003 and built it on a foundation of core clinical, professional, and ethical principles that are adhered to still to this day.