Eating Disorders - Treatment

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Choosing a Treatment Site

The patient’s condition, social circumstances, and health insurance coverage determine the type of treatment facility -- inpatient hospitalization, residential hospitalization, partial hospitalization, or outpatient care. Patients and their families should discuss with their doctors the various options available and how structured and intense the treatment should be.

Moderately to severely ill anorexic patients may require hospitalization when:

• Weight loss continues even with outpatient treatment
• Weight is 30% below ideal body weight
• Depression is severe or the patient is suicidal
• There are symptoms of medical complications (disturbed heart rate, low potassium levels, altered mental status, low blood pressure, severe sensations of cold)

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When severe metabolic or medical problems occur, patients with anorexia may need to be hospitalized either voluntarily or involuntarily. A variety of partial hospitalization or day care programs are also available.

For people with severe anorexia, many doctors recommend 10 - 12 weeks of hospitalization with full nutritional support in order for the patient to reach ideal body weight. It is particularly important for women with both diabetes and anorexia to achieve 100% of ideal weight before being released from an inpatient facility.

Review Date: 02/18/2011
Reviewed By: David B. Merrill, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY. Also reviewed by Harvey Simon, MD, Editor-in-Chief, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital; and David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org).