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.
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