SearchTreatment Process
Treatment for an eating disorder involves strength and courage and with the right support and professional guidance, a full recovery is possible. We provide an estimated recommendation for the length of treatment needed to be based on many factors and that can be adjusted throughout the process of treatment based on progress.
The average length of stay for Toledo Center clients is six weeks. Eating disorders and co-occurring mental health disorders are complex and require comprehensive solutions. For this reason, the Toledo Center for Eating Disorders uses time-tested, evidence-based approaches to help each client successfully recover.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Developed by Dr. Aaron Beck in the 1960s, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of today’s most researched and widely used therapeutic approaches. It is particularly effective for treating eating disorders, mood disorders, anxiety, and schizophrenia.
CBT is a solution-focused, evidence-based treatment that changes behaviors through specific skills. It helps clients reshape negative perceptions of themselves and the world by identifying and challenging core beliefs, emphasizing the link between thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
Toledo Center Overview
At Toledo Center, we offer programs for adults of all genders, ages 18 and older, to help them get their lives back. We offer a residential program, as well as a partial hospitalization program (PHP).
Developed by Dr. Aaron Beck in the 1960’s, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has been researched extensively and is the most widely used therapy for treating eating disorders, mood disorders, anxiety, and schizophrenia. CBT is a solution-focused, evidence-based treatment approach that emphasizes changing behavior by applying specific skills. CBT identifies, addresses, and teaches clients ways to challenge the core beliefs that contribute to the negative way they see themselves, other people, and the world, by focusing on the ways thinking influences emotions and coinciding behaviors.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) was founded on the idea that most psychological distress is tied to “experiential avoidance.” It was developed by Steven C. Hayes, Kelly Wilson, and Kirk Strosahl as an attempt or desire to suppress unwanted internal experiences, such as emotions, thoughts, or bodily sensations. ACT focuses on helping clients learn to observe, recognize, and accept a realistic perception of self while learning to manage thoughts that may exacerbate anxiety or problematic behaviors.
Mindfulness training involves developing awareness of experiences in the moment, including thoughts, feelings, and the surrounding environment, as well as accepting emotions, and not passing judgment on the present. Mindfulness-based therapy can be helpful in learning how to manage external stressors that may be triggers for distress through binge eating, restriction, purging, excessive exercise, self-harm, etc. Utilizing therapeutic techniques helps clients learn to be more observant instead of reactive in the present and can aid in developing skills that allows emotions and thoughts to process.
Psychodynamic therapy believes that our experiences from the past influence the way we see and interpret the world. Clients gain insight on present-day problems, beliefs, and thoughts, through a healthy therapeutic relationship that allows them to identify and process through events, relationships, and patterns throughout life. As insight is gained, coping mechanisms are developed that can be implemented to manage distress and they learn to engage in different behaviors moving forward to inhibit the continuation of distress-inducing experiences.
Narrative therapy functions from the belief that our experiences contribute to our narrative or story, meaning the story that we develop about ourselves is based primarily on our interpretation of life experiences. It utilizes the power of people’s stories to discover life purpose. Because narrative therapy sees people separate from their problems, it works towards transforming the effects of the problem, instead of changing the person. Through narrative therapy, clients are empowered to re-define their stories.
Often used in treating anxiety disorders, Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy (ERP) exposes clients to the feared object or circumstance in the absence of danger to desensitize fear and distress while reinforcing safety. ERP helps the brain re-conceptualize the threat by gradually increasing the exposure to the fear at mild to moderate levels while reinforcing safety through affirmation and experience.
When treating eating disorders, particularly bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), ERP can aid in helping to overcome the fear of consuming certain foods and can also assist with anxiety-provoking experiences like being weighed, grocery shopping, or looking at oneself in the mirror.
Experiential therapy includes multiple approaches such as role-playing, group sculpting, use of props, guided imagery, art therapy, etc. Unlike traditional talk therapy, experiential therapy encourages clients to address hidden and sometimes subconscious issues through experiential activities and interactions.
Recreational therapy, also known as therapeutic recreation, is a systematic process that utilizes recreation and other activity-based interventions to address the assessed needs of individuals with illnesses and/or disabling conditions, as a means to psychological and physical health, recovery and well-being.
Commonly used for treating health disorders, as well as eating disorders, motivational interviewing encourages collaboration between client and therapist to identify internal motivating factors that allow for change.
Internal Family Systems is the theory that we each have different internal components filling the needs we have for love, attachment, belonging, achievement, survival, etc. Working with a trained therapist, clients identify the root of conflict and ways to navigate the conflict in themselves and others by developing a deeper understanding of these components, their experiences, and their needs. Identifying and meeting the needs of these components dissolves our tendencies of meeting needs in other ways and equips us to identify and navigate conflict more effectively.
Safe & Comfortable Environments
Located along the banks of 10-Mile Creek in Sylvania, Ohio, Toledo Center offers a peaceful and private setting ideal for recovery. Our unique, therapeutic environment enhances the healing process, making it a cornerstone of the Toledo Center difference. Residents enjoy a variety of enriching activities, including:
- Delicious meals – A full selection of nutritious and delicious meals.
- Creative outlets – Engage in art, pottery, and board games.
- Mindfulness and movement – Participate in yoga and other wellness activities.
Experience the tranquil atmosphere and diverse offerings that support healing and personal growth at Toledo Center for Eating Disorders.
Start your recovery process with Toledo Center.
LGBTQIA+ Inclusive Eating Disorder Treatment
Toledo Center is an LGBTQIA+ inclusive environment. At our treatment center, we treat clients with diverse gender identities. Our philosophy at Toledo Center is that a welcoming and inclusive environment is crucial to the recovery and healing process for all. We’re proud to be an LGBTQ+ affirming environment, meeting every client where they are with compassion and collaboration.