Yes- You Do Need A Treatment Team!

Did you know that a multidisciplinary treatment team is the gold standard for eating disorder treatment?  According to medicaldictionary.com a gold standard is “an acknowledged measure of comparison of the superior effectiveness or value of a particular medication or other therapy as compared with that of other drugs or treatments.”   Come again? Basically it’s saying that the gold standard, in this case a multidisciplinary treatment team for eating disorders, is superior to other treatments (i.e. only working with one clinician).

Eating disorders are multidimensional encompassing medical, psychological, nutritional and sociocultural components.  They are often too difficult to be treated by an individual provider, thus the need for a multidisciplinary, or sometimes called interdisciplinary, treatment team of specialized providers.  A basic treatment team consists of a medical doctor, a mental health provider, and a registered dietitian who all work together to treat the individual.  The team approach is effective and it puts the patient at the center of their care.  Each provider addresses their specialized area, while also collaborating with each other to provide consistent treatment.  You can think of a treatment team as a network of support that surrounds the patient to provide support and care.  Each team member interacts with the patient and team members also interact with each other to surround the patient with support in each specialized area.  This way each area of an eating disorder- medical, psychological, sociocultural and nutritional is being addressed. Some treatment teams do grow as needed to include other providers such as a/an:

Psychiatrist

Ob/Gyn

Endocrinologist

Cardiologist

Gastroenterologist

Rheumatologist

Nephrologist

Dentist

Religious Leader

Speech Therapist

Certified Diabetes Educator

Art Therapist

Movement Therapist

Physical Therapist

Personal Trainer

Depending on your needs, you might have some or all of these team members working with you at any given time.  Your core treatment team- your physician, dietitian, and mental health provider- stay the same while other providers will be included as needed.  If you need help finding providers to form a complete eating disorder treatment team in the Tyler/East Texas area, we can help you with that.  If you have a partial treatment team and need the nutritional approach addressed, we can help with that too.  In order to have the best treatment approach- the gold standard- you need a treatment team.

Here are some links that can help you find a treatment team:

The National Eating Disorders Association

EDReferral

Eating Disorder Hope