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Treatment of Eating Disorders

Prof. Yael Latzer, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Science, University of Haifa, Research Director, Eating Disorders Center, Rambam Health Care Campus
15 June 2025

The treatment of eating disorders is a complex and challenging journey that requires several types of treatment, each of which focuses on a different aspect of the disease. Most treatments are provided in a clinic setting but in severe cases, hospitalization may be required. 

The challenges of treatment: The challenges are varied, from denial and resistance from the patie4nts, to the incidental and complex physical illnesses and mental health disabilities of the disorder, to the length of treatment. 

Treatment involves a combination of several approaches 

  • Family-based therapy: a particularly effective method for adolescents that involves parental education and empowerment. 
  • Nutrition therapy: rehabilitation of healthy eating habits and providing tools to cope with difficulties. 
  • Drug therapy: providing a solution for incidental physical and mental health morbidity. 
  • Psychotherapy: processing emotional and behavioral difficulties related to the eating disorder. 

Therapeutic frameworks 

  • Community clinic: treatment provided by a multidisciplinary staff of mental health professionals who specialize in eating disorders. 
  • Outpatient therapy: intensive daily therapy. 
  • Balancing home: Alternative to hospitalization, intensive therapeutic framework. 
  • Hospitalization: In severe cases that require close medical follow-up. 

Individual care plan  

Every patient needs a plan that is adapted to their personal needs and characteristics of the disorder. The combination between the various approaches, family and professional support of the therapeutic staff are key to success in treating eating disorders.

The article is written in female form since most individuals with eating disorders are adolescent females, but the information is applicable to adolescent males and females as well as adult men and women of any age.

The treatment of eating disorders is largely provided by a multidisciplinary staff that includes professionals from all sectors of the mental health professions: psychiatry, nursing, nutrition, etc. For the most part, these professionals specialize in eating disorders. Therapy includes dietary, physical, mental and functional rehabilitation, and is largely provided in a clinic framework, with 15% of cases requiring full or partial hospitalization.

The challenges of treating eating disorders 

Eating disorders, which are included under the psychiatric diagnostic manual DSM-5 primarily affect adolescents and young women. They are accompanied by extensive physical morbidity and the highest mortality rates of all psychiatric illnesses. Eating disorders have associated mental health disabilities, which may complicate treatment and make it complex, challenging, and lengthy. In severe cases where hospitalization is necessary, the duration of hospitalization required for physical and mental health stabilization is significantly longer in comparison with otherr severe psychiatric hospitalizations. Furthermore, there is great denial and resistance to therapy on the part of the patients, which makes cooperation and the course of treatment extremely difficult. 

Today, there are a variety of professional services for treating eating disorders, provided by specialists. Anyone interested in treatment and motivated to recover has the greatest chance of recovering. Treatment for eating disorders may be complex, challenging, and lengthy, but immediately seeking help following onset of the disease, contacting professionals who are experts in the subject, and family involvement will significantly increase the chances of full recovery. 

Types of therapies for eating disorders

Each of the following therapies is tailored to the patient's age and the disorder from which she suffers. In most cases, a combination of several types of therapies will be required to address all the repercussions of the eating disorder.  

Since most patients are adolescents and young adults, the inclusion of parents and siblings in treatment is necessary and important for recovery. This therapeutic method, which is established in research, has been found to be highly effective with high success rates in treating adolescent girls and young adults with all forms of eating disorders and their parents.  

Practitioners: A multidisciplinary staff that specializes in eating disorders treats the adolescent and her family, with each professional handling their area of specialty. The staff and therapy are spearheaded by the family practitioner. 

The therapy includes: a combination of diet therapy and medical as well as psychiatric supervision, with a focus on parental education and empowerment, which accompanies the entire therapeutic process, beginning with eating rehabilitation, to communication and building a trusting relationship with the adolescent, and to providing tools for empowerment.  

Important to emphasize: This therapeutic approach does not blame and criticize the parents but empowers, supports and directs them.  

The practitioner:For the most part, a dietitian who specializes in eating disorders. 

The treatment includes: adhering to regular mealtimes, eating diverse, rich and balanced foods that contain all the food components necessary for building the body and its functioning, while paying attention to hunger and satiety mechanisms while eating.  

Important to emphasize: The diet therapy that accompanies the entire course of the patient's overall treatment is individual, tailored to the needs of each patient, and includes parental guidance accordingly.

The practitioner Psychiatrist 

The treatment includes: The treatment is designed to provide a response to or prevent the existing physical morbidity, or to alleviate the symptoms caused by the eating disorder, for example constipation, amenorrhea, pain and inflammation. The treatment,is also designed to to provide a response to the accompanying emotional distress, such as alleviating symptoms of stress and anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder or OCD, sleep disruptions.  

Important to emphasize: When the disease is anorexia, direct treatment for the disease is limited. In cases of bulimia or binge eating disorder, a number of medications may be used based on a psychiatric recommendation.  

The practitioner: In the case of anorexia, psychotherapists from the spectrum of mental health professionals who are recognized by the Ministry of Health, such as psychiatry and psychology. This treatment is effective after eating has been rehabilitated. In the case of bulimia, it is possible to immediately use targeted and relatively short research-based treatment that has been found to be highly effective.    

Types of therapies for example: Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), interpersonal psychotherapy, dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT0 or long-term dynamic psychotherapy that is based on self psychologies.  

Important to emphasize: This therapy is a core and central part required in the therapeutic process and recovery. All of the therapies mentioned are research-based and have been found to be effective, but it is necessary to adapt them to the patient's condition, needs, and level of motivation for treatment.   

Special public frameworks for the treatment of eating disorders 

Responsibility for providing therapeutic services to those struggling with eating disorders lies with the insuring HMO. The various services listed here can be obtained, similar to all medical and mental health therapeutic services, with a quarterly deductible or at no cost.   

  • Service points: found in primary clinics, or specialist clinics. Therapy and follow-up are carried out by therapists who specialize in eating disorders, such as: physicians and therapists from the fields of psychiatry, psychology, social work, nutrition, art therapy, etc.  
  • Special multidisciplinary clinics for the treatment of eating disorders: Therapy and follow-up provided by a multidisciplinary staff  who specialize in eating disorders.
  • Outpatient therapy for eating disorders: Multidisciplinary frameworks for intensive outpatient treatment are provided by the practitioners who specialize in eating disorders. To read more about outpatient treatment. Read more about day care  
  • Balancing homes for eating disorders: A multidisciplinary and intensive therapeutic framework, which is an alternative to hospitalization. The balancing house is a framework that includes living and sleeping in a house located within a residential neighborhood, for the purpose of stabilizing the severe situation, and is intended for residence and therapy for a period of up to 3 months. To read more about balancing homes. Read more about balancing houses  
  • Home hospitalization (alternative to hospitalization) for eating disorders: Intensive therapeutic service for home treatment when possible.  To read more about home hospitalization . Read more about hospitalization in a psychiatric hospital
  • Full inpatient hospitalization: in special departments for eating disorders or special beds for eating disorders in general or psychiatric hospitals. To read more about psychiatric hospitalization. Read more about psychiatric hospitalization

Mental Health Hotlines of the HMOs

Hostels for those recovering from eating disorders  

Special hostels for patients over the age of 18 who are recovering from eating disorders and who received approval through the Rehabilitation Basket Board. Residence in the program is temporary, largely lasting between one to two years. The hostels operate on a rehabilitation model that has been found to be particularly effective for women who complete the full program. 

Residence in the community: The hostels are located in the community and simulate regular life in a regular home. The residents share in daily house tasks – cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc., and live in a supportive environment that is as close as possible to independent living.  

Psychological and psychiatric therapy: provided outside the hostel and meals take place together and under supervision. During the stay, it is necessary to maintain a stable weight and avoid symptoms of the disease.  

Individual rehabilitation plan: Every resident will have an individual rehabilitation plan created that includes going to work, studies or volunteering - in the first stages of their residence. 

Towards a return to independent living: At the end of the hostel residence, the residents move into transitional apartments nearby. During the additional six months, they receive professional supervision from a social worker and dietician. 

More information about Rehabilitation Basket hostels