Services
Treatment | Workshops & Seminars | When Parents are Partners
Treatment
Consultations
Consultations are recommended to help assess whether you or someone close to you has an eating disorder. Here, we will want to know how you see the problem at hand, what has worked—and what hasn’t—to help you achieve your goals. In the consultation, we will come up with a treatment plan that we think will best meet the goals that you have. Consultations are confidential and are the first step in determining what needs to be done next.
Individual Therapy
Individual psychotherapy provides a supportive atmosphere in which patients can explore and change disruptive eating behaviors. Because we believe that anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorders are not solely problems with food and weight, we will work with you both to change the behavior and also to understand how food is used to manage emotions and stress. Treatment goals include understanding the function food serves in meeting emotional needs, developing control of destructive eating patterns and finding healthier ways of leading one's life.
Group Therapy and Support Groups
Group therapy can be an important adjunct to individual psychotherapy. Groups provide a safe place to speak with others who share struggles regarding food and weight. Through mutual support, guidance and peer networking, isolating eating patterns can be broken. For some people, groups can be an important introduction to therapy in general.
We run weekly psychotherapy groups as well as monthly support groups. The weekly groups are run by therapists experienced in the treatment of eating disorders and are held with the same group of people each week. By contrast, while the support group is also run by an experienced therapist, it is a “drop-in” group where people can attend when they need to. In both groups, support is given and members are encouraged to explore how they can change the disordered eating.
Please call Dede Kammerling at the Center (212-989-3987) for an appointment to discuss the possibility of joining a group or attending the support group. The first meeting for the weekly group will be individually with the group therapist so that she can assess how the group can best meet your needs.
Family Therapy
Family therapy is an important part of our treatment program when we work with children, teens and young adults who are living at home and who are struggling with bulimia, anorexia or binge eating disorders. We will help you determine the best ways that family members can be of help in the recovery process. When needed, work with the family may be done directly with the individual therapist or with another therapist who specializes in families. Regardless, we balance the needs for teens’ and young adults’ privacy with the need for parents to be thoughtfully involved.
Treatment of Couples and Significant Others
Eating disorders do not just affect the person in trouble with food or that person’s family. Friends, spouses, fiancés, and significant others are all challenged by the person struggling with bulimia, anorexia or bingeing. We often consult with friends, roommates, and people enroute to getting married to figure out how everyone can best help with the situation at hand. We also speak with sons or daughters of parents who are anorexic, bulimic or binge eaters. If you have questions about what to do to help, we can meet with you for a consultation to determine a plan of action.
For all treatment questions and consultations, please call Dede Kammerling at the Center at 212-989-3987 or email us a [email protected].