What is Holistic Eating Disorder Treatment?
Written by ‘Ai Pono Hawaii Staff Writer
Traditional eating disorder treatment primarily focuses on “fixing” physical symptoms. The problem with this approach is that it often fails to get to the foundation of the disorder, meaning many individuals fall back into their disorder after eating disorder treatment. The good news is, eating disorder treatment has developed significantly over the past few decades, with numerous eating disorder professionals now using innovative, holistic treatment approaches with great success.
If you’re curious about holistic eating disorder treatment, keep reading to find out:
What is holistic eating disorder treatment?
What are the benefits of holistic eating disorder treatment?
What specific methods are used in holistic eating disorder treatment?
What is Holistic Eating Disorder Treatment?
Holistic treatment addresses the entire person, not just their disorder or illness. Unlike many traditional medicine approaches, holistic eating disorder treatment does not simply seek to fix behaviors or regulate symptoms. Instead, it addresses each aspect of the individual (physical, emotional, spiritual, and environmental) to bring about long-term wholeness and healing in the body, mind, and soul. As ‘Ai Pono’s founder has said,
“Eating disorders are like a weed. If you just cut it off at the top, given the right circumstances, it can come back. But if you dig deep and eradicate the roots, you can eliminate it altogether.”
In other words, if you fail to get to the root cause of the illness and only treat the eating disorder symptoms, they can (and often do) quickly return. But when you dig deep to uncover and treat the causes of the disorder (in addition to addressing physical symptoms), true and lasting recovery can finally occur. This is what holistic eating disorder treatment is all about.
This is not to say holistic providers never use traditional medicine to address eating disorder symptoms. They do. But instead of only relying on traditional treatments, holistic providers employ a wide range of alternative methods (along with traditional medicine when needed) to address the individual’s underlying issues and bring about whole-body healing.
Some of the core principles of holistic eating disorder treatment include:
A patient is treated as a person, not as their disorder or disease.
Each person has the potential to better themselves.
The treatment seeks to fix the root cause, not just symptoms.
The patient and health care provider work together as a team to solve the problem.
What are the Benefits of Holistic Eating Disorder Treatment?
There are three main benefits to using holistic eating disorder treatment versus relying solely on traditional medicine approaches.
Promotes Long-Term Healing
Here at ‘Ai Pono, we believe there is deep meaning to be found in the struggle with an eating disorder. For example, many times eating disorders are a coping mechanism, helping the sufferer escape from past (or present) trauma or stress. As such, a holistic treatment approach that addresses the root causes of the eating disorder is much more likely to bring about long-term recovery and healing than one that simply fixes the physical symptoms.
Unfortunately, many individuals struggling with an eating disorder receive traditional treatment that focuses only on refeeding and addressing physical problems. Because of this, many patients with an eating disorder are released from treatment only to fall right back into their disorder. With holistic treatment, however, patients uncover and address the stressors and trauma that may have led to the development of the disorder and gain the tools they need to prevent relapse and promote long-term healing.
Brings Lifestyle Change
Holistic eating disorder treatment gives patients the tools they need to make lasting lifestyle changes. Much of the therapy focuses on overcoming trauma, navigating life stressors in a healthy way, and restoring balance and peace within the entire body. This holistic approach not only helps patients find healing from their eating disorder symptoms but also teaches them how to deal with their needs and feelings directly, rather than through food and eating. In short, holistic treatment equips patients to take charge of their long-term health and make lasting and transformative lifestyle changes.
Improves General Health
Holistic treatment programs use numerous forms of therapy and care to treat the entire person, not just the eating disorder. Patients practice stress-relieving exercises like yoga and mindfulness, learn about nutrition and intuitive eating, and engage in various types of therapy, all of which are believed to improve general health and wellbeing. Further, many of the holistic methods address and treat co-occurring disorders like PTSD and anxiety.
‘Ai Pono’s Holistic Treatment Program
The ‘Ai Pono Treatment Program, designed by Dr. Anita Johnston, is an evidence-based program that uses holistic approaches to treat women with eating disorders. The program is grounded in the belief that with proper treatment and by addressing underlying issues, complete and lasting healing from an eating disorder is possible.
Integrating the wisdom of a multidisciplinary team of eating disorder professionals, the program assesses each patient’s individual needs and employs various holistic modalities to bring about whole-body healing. Some of the holistic methods we use at ‘Ai Pono are outlined below.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
DBT is a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy that teaches people how to regulate their emotions and cope with stressors in a healthy way. Originally developed to treat borderline personality disorder, DBT has successfully been used to treat eating disorders like bulimia and binge-eating disorder as well as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition one in four people with an eating disorder suffer from. When used in a holistic eating disorder treatment program, DBT helps patients uncover difficult emotions and experiences and points them towards healthy coping mechanisms so they no longer turn to food and eating as a means of dealing with their emotional difficulties.
DBT typically involves two settings:
Group sessions where the individuals learn behavioral skills and new ways to positively interact with others in a friendly, non-judgemental space.
Individual therapy sessions with a professional who helps the individual adapt the behavioral skills (learned in the group setting) to their personal life challenges.
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)
EFT is a combination of several different holistic approaches such as acupuncture, energy medicine, neuro-linguistic programming, and Thought Field Therapy. Research shows that EFT has been effective in treating depression, PTSD, relationship problems, and phobias, just to name a few. This drug-free, non-invasive technique seeks to uncover and eliminate negative emotional responses by removing certain energy blocks in the body.
These negative energy blocks are removed by 1) identifying and establishing their response to a trigger, 2) tapping specific energy points in the body (called energy meridians), and 3) using affirmations during the process to help reverse the negative, disordered beliefs and establish self-acceptance. When used in eating disorder treatment, EFT helps patients reveal the underlying psychological foundations of their disorder and gives them powerful and practical tools to transform their mindset.
Somatic Therapy
Another holistic method used at the ‘Ai Pono Eating Disorder Program is Somatic Therapy, or Somatic Experiencing (SE). SE is built on the notion that trauma is a physiological experience, not just a psychological condition. Since the body (not just the mind) experiences and absorbs trauma, the body must also be addressed in therapy.
To this end, SE combines talk therapy with physical techniques like yoga, deep breathing, dance, massage, and other types of alternative physical therapy techniques. These techniques help patients release emotions, anger, tension, and other harmful feelings that might be stored in their bodies from past trauma and negative experiences. The goal of SE is to free the patient’s mind and body from the harmful emotions disrupting their lives.
Holistic Recovery
Holistic eating disorder treatment focuses on treating the entire person, not just their eating disorder. This body-mind-soul approach enables those suffering with an eating disorder to get to the root cause of the disorder, eliminate false beliefs and harmful emotions, and learn valuable skills to take charge of their health and experience life-long healing. Thanks to the holistic approach, we have seen countless women recover from their eating disorders and go on to live healthy, rich, and meaningful lives.
If you or a loved one is suffering from an eating disorder, take the first step today and talk to someone about recovery or simply learn more about the holistic eating disorder recovery programs we offer.