Eating disorder treatment for children and adolescents
At The Smith Counseling Group, we are a team of dedicated professionals committed to offering evidence-based mental health care to individuals and their families. With a collective experience of over 30 years, our warm and science-based approach ensures tangible results within the initial weeks of treatment. Your mental well-being is our priority.
How do I know if my child needs help? It is often difficult to identify when adolescents are struggling with an eating disorder, particularly in a culture where it is “normal” to talk negatively about one’s body. Parents often miss the early warning signs of an eating disorder, because it may seem like their child is just “eating healthy”. Below are questions that will help you decide if an eating disorder specialist is right for your family.
Questions to help determine if you should seek out specialized treatment:
Is your child dieting or obsessed with food, shape or weight?
Does your child seem driven to exercise, even when it isn’t convenient or comfortable to do so?
Is your child withdrawing from usual social or extracurricular activities and avoiding meals with others?
Are you noticing unusual eating behaviors, such as odd food combinations, sudden food aversions or restrictions, eating slowly, eating large quantities of food in private or food hoarding?
Has your child experienced noticeable changes in their mood, including greater irritability, mood swings, anxiety or depression?
Have you noticed a sudden change in their weight?
What is the Best Treatment for Your Child?
Family based therapy (FBT) is the only evidence-based treatment for children and adolescents with eating disorders. Treatment providers of FBT recognize that by the time families reach out for treatment, the eating disorder has likely disrupted the entire family system and families are either in distress or denial. Unlike other therapies that might have an underlying belief of the family as the cause of the disorder, FBT views parents as a child’s greatest asset in recovery.
At The Smith Counseling Group, we believe that family based therapy (FBT) is not only science-based, but essential for the treatment of eating disorders in children and adolescents.