An anorexia therapist provides mental health services to patients with anorexia, including inpatient and outpatient therapy, and works with a patient care team to address mental and physical needs. They develop treatment plans, set goals, and provide follow-up care for lifelong management. Pay varies based on experience and location.
An anorexia therapist is a mental health professional who provides services to patients with anorexia. This work may include both inpatient and outpatient therapy, and the therapist may work with long-term patients to identify and discuss disordered eating habits after treatment for initial anorexia. People like psychiatrists, psychologists, nutritionists and pediatricians can work as anorexia therapists.
Anorexia treatment involves managing several different aspects of the patient’s condition. For patients with acute malnutrition caused by anorexia, keeping the patient physically healthy is an important priority. In addition, mental health care is needed to explore the causes of anorexia and provide counseling to help patients recover. This can include a variety of therapeutic approaches, and often a patient care team is required to address the patient’s mental and physical needs, led by an anorexia therapist.
The anorexia therapist meets with patients and their families to talk about the disorder, develop a treatment plan, and set goals for treatment. With inpatient therapy, patients can see their therapists daily in private and group sessions. Outpatients may see treatment daily initially, gradually spending less time on therapy as they become more stable. Anorexia therapists may also visit patients at home and may use home visits to identify issues that are not apparent in the hospital or clinic.
Patients with anorexia often report that this eating disorder is a lifelong illness, requiring a consistent lifelong regimen of care, as opposed to interventional treatment followed by no further care. Part of an anorexia therapist’s job may include patient follow-up and working with patients on plans to manage their living conditions, including regular therapy, meetings with nutritionists, and so on. For people with anorexia who are also athletes, the anorexia therapist can work with people such as coaches and teammates to develop a plan to keep the patient healthy.
This work can vary greatly in scope and the pay grades are also variable depending on one’s experience and skill level. Where a therapist works can also have an impact on salary. For people working in inpatient clinics, benefits can be an important aspect of remuneration, and highly reputable clinics may pay a recruitment bonus to particularly talented and experienced therapists, with the aim of providing their patients with the highest level of possible service. The job can be emotionally stressful and requires cooperation with many different medical providers to cover all aspects of patient care.
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