5 Reasons Why You Might Need Residential Treatment for Your Eating Disorder Today

Seeking treatment at the appropriate level of care is important for helping you progress in your eating disorder recovery.  Thankfully, there are many eating disorder professionals and resources that can help you or your loved one decide what level of treatment might be most suitable for your specific needs.

When it comes to eating disorder recovery, there is a variety of options available for support and treatment. From residential treatment to outpatient care and everything in between, there are resources that can help you find hope and healing. How do you know which level of care is right for you?

Understanding Treatment Options for Eating Disorders

Seeking treatment at the appropriate level of care is important for helping you progress in your eating disorder recovery.  Thankfully, there are many eating disorder professionals and resources that can help you or your loved one decide what level of treatment might be most suitable for your specific needs. It is recommended that you work with a professional to determine what level of care is the most beneficial for your recovery. This might be an eating disorder therapist, counselor, physician, or psychiatrist. By understanding your concerns as well as the signs and symptoms you are experiencing, a qualified professional will make treatment level recommendations that meet you exactly where you are currently. The most common levels of eating disorder treatment include:

• Inpatient Treatment
• Residential Treatment
• Partial Hospitalization
• Intensive Outpatient
• Outpatient

Typically, a more acute or inpatient level of treatment is necessary for someone who may require medical and/or psychiatric stabilization.  Many individuals will often transition to the different levels of eating disorder treatment as they progress in their recovery journey.  Less acute levels of treatment, including intensive outpatient and outpatient treatment, are more suitable for a person who does not require supervision and monitoring and who is relatively stable from any medical or psychiatric complications.  

Why Residential Treatment Can Best Support Recovery

Residential treatment is an important option available for eating disorder recovery. Residential treatment programs offer a safe and structured environment where individuals can find healing from even the most destructive of eating disorders. At this level of care, residents are provided with continual support and monitoring as well as comprehensive treatment from a multi-disciplinary team, including physicians, psychiatrists, therapists, dietitians, and more.  Residential treatment offers the best level of support required for individuals suffering from a severe eating disorder, including anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating disorder and co-occurring conditions.

Making the choice to seek out residential treatment can feel overwhelming, but it is important to know that you are not alone in this process.  Consider some of the following reasons why residential treatment might be a positive option for your recovery:

1. You are struggling with medical complications: Eating disorders are complex illnesses that can result in serious medical consequences. Maybe you have found yourself in and out of doctor's offices to deal with eating disorder symptoms. Alternatively, maybe you have found the quality of your life negatively affected by physical complications resulting from an eating disorder. Eating disorders, if left untreated, can be life threatening, often due to medical complications, such as heart failure, electrolyte imbalance, or malnutrition. In these cases, residential treatment can help you safely recover from these conditions by providing resources needed for medical stabilization.
2. You are overwhelmed, emotionally or psychologically: It is not uncommon for eating disorders to develop alongside other issues, such as anxiety, depression or addiction. These co-occurring conditions can make it more complex for you to find the underlying cause of your eating disorder and start healing. Residential treatment can give you the structure and environment needed to heal from these complex factors.
3. You find it difficult to feed yourself: Sometimes something as simple as feeding your body appropriately can feel immensely challenging if you are living with an eating disorder.  Because of the severity of eating disorder behaviors, you may not even be sure how or what to feed yourself. Engaging in destructive eating habits, like restricting, purging, and/or binging, can make food seem chaotic. You may feel like you cannot trust your body or are intensely fearful of gaining weight. Residential treatment can be an invaluable resource for helping you normalize your eating behaviors and develop healthier eating patterns.
4. The quality of your life is compromised: Eating disorders can deprive you of enjoying life, making it difficult to flourish in school, work, and relationships. You may have had to drop out of school, lost your job, missed out on a promotion at work, or are suffering in relationships with those closest to you because of your eating disorder. Residential treatment can give you the strong foundation you need in your recovery journey to deal with the underlying causes and gain the tools necessary to rebuild relationships.
5. You have a poor support system: Eating disorders can be isolating, and you may not have adequate support to help you through the recovery process. It is important that you do not fight this alone and that you surround yourself with others who understand how to help you. The treatment team available at the residential level of care can give you the support and structure you need to recover.

While the decision to seek out residential treatment can be tough, it is important to realize what you will gain by prioritizing your healing and recovery. Living life to your fullest potential and ultimately being able to thrive in every aspect of your life are gifts that you will never regret.

The risks of not seeking out residential treatment for your eating disorder must be taken into consideration. Left untreated, you could potentially endanger your life or even lose what matters most to you. Consider how you want your future life to look and ask yourself if your eating disorder is part of that picture.

How Remuda Ranch Can Support Your Healing

At Remuda Ranch at The Meadows, we understand what is needed to help you find lasting recovery from your eating disorder. Our residential level of care provides the highest quality of comprehensive treatment to ensure that you are supported every step of your journey.  Our eating disorder professionals are dedicated to seeing you thrive and will support you with an individualized care plan that is designed to meet your unique needs.  Wherever you may be on your journey today, we stand ready to support you in recovery.  For additional information about the treatment of eating disorders, please call to speak to an Intake Coordinator at 866-842-1245

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Eating Disorder Healing Through Equine Therapy

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Kristen Zollars, Program Director of Equine Services for Remuda Ranch at The Meadows, recently wrote about Eating Disorder Healing Through Equine Therapy. In this article she addresses how interacting with horses can help one deal with their own emotions and bring about acceptance.



To read this article in its entirety, please go click here.

Horses are an integral part of our leading-edge treatment. At Remuda Ranch at The Meadows, our patients learn how to be predictable, trustworthy and communicative from the bonds they establish during our Equine Therapy program. For additional information about the treatment of eating disorders, please call to speak to a Counselor at 866-842-1253 and we will contact you with the information you need.

Unhealthy Eating Disorder

Source Link: Unhealthy Eating Disorder

Orthorexia is “an unhealthy obsession with eating healthy food.” This is how Dr. Steven Bratman defined it in 1997 and although it is not a medical diagnosis, it can become a life-threatening disorder. Unfortunately, Orthorexia is hard to identify in its early stages because it simply looks like an admirable desire to eat “healthy.”

An Unhealthy Eating Disorder

It often starts as a simple and positive desire to eat in a more wholesome, nutritious way. The brain chemistry imbalance that causes Orthorexia turns this into a destructive addiction that results in malnutrition and physical and mental harm.

Orthorexia shares some features of both anorexia nervosa and obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, it differs from anorexia nervosa because the sufferer experiences an excessive and compulsive “need” to be “pure,” “clean,” or “natural” as opposed to “thin.” This leads to refusal to eat any foods that do not meet with the individual’s impossible standards. Of course the quest for “perfect” eating is not only unrealistic but unattainable since it not based in reality and the person’s sense of failure reinforces the desire to avoid even more foods.

Signs of Orthorexia

Even though a person with orthorexia may not want to lose weight, the disease nevertheless can cause emaciation or starvation due to food rules, restrictions and avoidance. This malnutrition makes it harder for the individual to recognize the disorder and increases anxiety, which then perpetuates the harmful restrictive eating behavior. Some symptoms of Orthorexia are:

• Preoccupation with nutrition and diet far beyond that which is necessary for health.
• Over-reliance on eating in a certain way in order to feel “safe” or “good”.
• Fear of eating, accidentally eating, or even being around “unhealthy” foods.
• Experiencing anger or panic while watching others eat “unhealthy” foods.
• Judging others harshly due to their eating and/or only associating with others who share the same restrictive food rules.
• Emotional distress or self-harm after eating a food considered “unhealthy”.
  

Healing Through Experiential Therapies

Expressive Arts Therapy and Recreation Therapy are integral elements of the eating disorder treatment program at Remuda Ranch at The Meadows. Each of these therapies provides patients with an opportunity to express themselves through a variety of modalities which enable them to explore and discover existing and new thoughts, feelings, emotions, and somatic experiences. Through non-verbal representation, patients are encouraged to delve into the topic area at a level they are comfortable with.




By providing a relaxed and non-judgmental environment, even individuals who are unfamiliar with an art room and proclaim to have no artistic talent, soon find themselves engrossed in the activities outside of a traditional therapy session. Experimenting with themes, ideas, and materials, patients are better able to express their emotions and feelings that so often surround very difficult issues they need to address in treatment.

The Expressive Arts Therapy program at Remuda Ranch includes themes related to eating disorders designed to help patients confront and express their thoughts in a manner and depth that is most comfortable for them. Activities that focus on issues such as body image, childhood influences, inner child, timelines, problem-solving skills, generational messages about the body, and spiritual connections are just some of the topics covered in our curriculum.




Recreation Therapy helps patients realize that they can have fun without the intensity of activities often identified as a major component of a patient’s eating disorder. Reducing the intensity of movement is instrumental in a recovery-focused treatment program. Activities such as volleyball, badminton, board games, gentle stretching, and therapeutic walks teach patients team building and relational skills that aid in reducing their eating disorder behaviors and also provide an enjoyable outlet for movement and play.

A Unique Equine Experience

"The Spirit Equine program of Colleen DeRango and Buddy Uldrickson is at the forefront of therapies for trauma and the healing of emotional wounds. Buddy’s calm, centered, presence, his immense horsemanship, and Colleen’s organic mastery of Somatic Experiencing™ have partnered to create a magical and transformative experience. I recommend this powerful program without reservation."



The Meadows’ equine workshop team combines the wisdom of our skillful therapist trained in Somatic Experiencing® (SE), with an uncommon horseman and highly skilled trainer. This unique equine experience is held on a scenic, rustic ranch a short distance from Wickenburg, Arizona.

Combining The Meadows Model, SE, mindfulness, and natural horsemanship, this workshop allows for a distinct healing experience. The program consists of experiential activities with horses, and addresses self-esteem, boundaries, honoring reality, wants and needs, emotional regulation, and spontaneity. Created exclusively for a small group of no more than five participants, this workshop is an outdoor experience facilitated by two gifted professionals.

We Can Help

For more details, call 866-280-2874 or complete the form below. Our Intake Coordinators are happy to assist you between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. MST on weekdays, and from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. MST on weekends.