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NEDA TOOLKIT for Parents to occur in the brain so that the patient can review the event more calmly or more completely than before. • Family Therapy A form of psychotherapy that involves members of an immediate or extended family. Some forms of family therapy are based on behavioral or psychodynamic principles; the most common form is based on family systems theory. This approach regards the family as the unit of treatment and emphasizes factors such as relationships and communication patterns. With eating disorders, the focus is on the eating disorder and how the disorder affects family relationships. Family therapies may also be educational and behavioral in approach. • Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) IPT (also called interpersonal psychotherapy) is designed to help people with eating disorders identify and address their interpersonal problems, specifically those involving grief, interpersonal role conflicts, role transitions, and interpersonal deficits. In this therapy, no emphasis is placed directly on modifying eating habits. Instead, the expectation is that the therapy enables people to change as their interpersonal functioning improves. IPT usually involves 16 to 20 hour-long, one-on-one treatment sessions over a period of 4 to 5 months. • Light therapy (also called phototherapy) Treatment that involves regular use of a certain spectrum of lights in a light panel or light screen that bathes the person in that light. Light therapy is also used to treat conditions such as seasonal affective disorder (seasonal depression). • Massage Therapy A generic term for any of a number of various types of therapeutic touch in which the practitioner massages, applies pressure to, or manipulates muscles, certain points on the body, or other soft tissues to improve health and well-being. Massage therapy is thought to relieve anxiety and depression in patients with eating disorders. • Maudsley Method, also called Family Based Therapy (FBT) A family-centered treatment program with three distinct phases. During the first phase parents are placed in charge of the child’s eating patterns in hopes to break the cycle of not eating, or of binge eating and purging. The second phase begins once the child’s refeeding and eating is under control with a goal of returning independent eating to the child. The goal of the third and final phase is to address the broader concerns of the child’s development. • Mealtime Support Therapy Treatment program developed to help patients with eating disorders eat healthfully and with less emotional upset. It generally centers around mealtime itself. • Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET) A treatment based on a model of change, with focus on the stages of change. Stages of change represent constellations of intentions and behaviors through which individuals pass as they move from having a problem to doing something to resolve it. The stages of change move from “pre-contemplation,” in which individuals show no intention of changing, to the “action” stage, in which they are actively engaged in overcoming their problem. Transition from one stage to the next is sequential, but not linear. The aim of MET is to help individuals move from earlier stages into the action stage using cognitive and emotional strategies. • Movement/Dance Therapy The psychotherapeutic use of movement as a process that furthers the emotional, cognitive, social, and physical integration of the individual, according to the American Dance Therapy Association. • Nutritional Therapy Therapy that provides patients with information on the effects of eating disorders, techniques to avoid binge eating, and advice about making meals and eating. For example, the goals of nutrition therapy for individuals with bulimia nervosa are to help individuals maintain blood sugar levels, help individuals maintain a diet that provides them with enough nutrients, and help restore overall physical health. • Pharmacotherapy Treatment of a disease or condition using clinician-prescribed medications. • Progressive Muscle Relaxation A deep relaxation technique based on the simple practice of tensing or tightening one muscle group at a time followed by a relaxation phase with release of the tension. This technique has been purported to reduce symptoms associated with night eating syndrome. Page  | 41