Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Eating Disorders (DBT-ED)

Columbus Park is proud to offer a comprehensive Dialectical Behavior Therapy program specifically for individuals who struggle with eating disorders (DBT-ED).

What is DBT?

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a form of cognitive-behavioral therapy that focuses on expanding skills for coping and problem-solving while decreasing impulsivity and increasing self-awareness.

DBT targets emotion-driven, destructive behaviors and replaces them with more effective and sustainable solutions in the form of positive coping skills. DBT is an efficient, time-limited, and change-oriented therapeutic intervention with strong research support for treating a wide range of conditions, including eating disorders. 

Customized Virtual DBT Program

Columbus Park’s DBT Program incorporates all of the standard DBT components: individual DBT sessions, group skills, and phone coaching.

Our entire DBT Team trained in advanced DBT through the world-renowned Behavioral Tech which is the training institute established by the Founder of DBT, Marsha Linehan, herself.  This level of training and competency means that Columbus Park clients are benefitting from DBT provision that is true to the model and delivered with expertise, invariably increasing efficacy of the treatment.  

Columbus Park is among a handful of practices delivering DBT with an adaptation specifically for treating eating disorders.  In cases where DBT-ED is recommended, we typically see that disordered eating behaviors are serving an “emotion regulation function.”  Essentially what this means is that the individual may be restricting, bingeing, purging, and/or exercising in extreme ways in an effort to cope with emotions that they experience as aversive. 

DBT-ED focuses on increasing behavioral control by learning and practicing adaptive strategies for tolerating emotions. Clients gain an understanding of the common triggers to behaviors and how to manage those triggers in healthier ways.  

  • DBT is the treatment of choice for teens presenting with multiple, serious behavioral concerns – problems like self-harm, eating disorders, substance use, high-risk sexual behaviors, impulsive or oppositional behavior, and suicidal ideation or actions. DBT can also be helpful with problematic but less severe issues like interpersonal difficulties, moodiness, depression, anxiety, anger dyscontrol, and school avoidance.

  • For youth struggling with emotional and behavioral challenges, a strength of DBT is that it acknowledges the important role of family, a central part of the teen’s environment, in supporting the client through change. Teens are in the midst of a family system and their struggles cannot be addressed in isolation. The system needs to work together to repair and improve communication, create a relationship of mutual respect, and establish an appropriate structure of parental support.

    DBT for adolescents calls for parental involvement, including parent skills training, so that the family system can share the same “language” and work towards change together most effectively. With this purpose, parents learn the same skills that the teen is learning. Parents also have access to a Parent Coach who guides them in strategies to validate and support their teen, improve communication, set limits, and bolster their teen’s implementation of new skills. The Parent Coach is available between sessions to troubleshoot challenging moments and reinforce skillful interactions in real-time. The teen has their own separate therapist so they can feel a sense of privacy and separation from parents, but at the same time, the team is working together in the service of creating harmony and health within the family unit as a whole.

  • Columbus Park is not contracted with any insurance companies directly; we are considered out-of-network which means that depending on your insurance plan, you may be eligible for reimbursement for a percentage of the costs. We advise that you reach out to your carrier to clarify your out-of-network behavioral health benefits. We provide detailed invoices (“superbills”) that you can submit to your carrier when filing out-of-network claims. If your insurance representative asks for a specific “procedure code” for group therapy, you can share the CPT code 90853 for group psychotherapy sessions.

  • All Columbus Park services are delivered via telehealth. Currently, our team serves clients in New York, California, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.

Frequently Asked Questions About Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Eating Disorders (DBT-ED)

  • Many providers integrate elements of DBT as part of a broader treatment alongside other techniques. It’s essential to note that this “light” version of DBT can be helpful in some cases, but it is not consistent with how DBT is intended to be delivered and shouldn’t be the course for patients with serious or chronic emotional and behavioral concerns. Adherent DBT (“the full dose”) incorporates individual therapy, skills training, and between-session coaching and should be delivered by clinicians with intensive training who are part of a DBT Team (meaning that the therapist meets weekly with their team for collaborating and support). At Columbus Park, we deliver DBT as intended and monitor progress ongoing to ensure that we’re making steady progress. One should never be six months into treatment and questioning if they’re getting better.

  • From a DBT perspective, behaviors like binge-eating, purging, dietary restriction, compulsive exercise, and/or self-harm are believed to serve an “affect regulation” function. In other words, these behaviors may be used with or without awareness to escape, block, or numb negative emotions. DBT treatment addresses the functional use of problematic behaviors by guiding the individual to more adaptive, health-affirming, and sustainable strategies for coping with emotion.

  • DBT-ED, the version of DBT adapted to target eating disorder behaviors, involves a very specific and deliberate structure. This includes weekly skills groups, individual DBT sessions, and coaching designed to help patients deploy skills in-the-moment when they’re experiencing distress and/or facing obstacles.

  • DBT focuses on building your or your loved ones capability to remain steady and effective even under the most challenging circumstances. Through the teaching and practice of skills, and there are dozens of them in the DBT repertory, you or your loved one learn to manage emotions, problems, or crises without using food, exercise, self-harm, drugs, or other problematic coping strategies.

  • When we establish that a client’s difficulty tolerating aversive emotions is driving their disordered eating, we often consider DBT as a possible course, although difficulty with emotion regulation is not the only feature that leads us to DBT. We will also consider whether there has been any past treatment and evaluate how and why this past treatment didn’t result in a full and sustained recovery. We also consider if there is any self-injurious behavior or suicidal thoughts; when present, DBT may be suggested since it’s designed to safely monitor and address these very serious factors. Columbus Park’s assessment process is designed to swiftly evaluate the best course for every individual treatment. We are able to explain the recommended treatment along with the rationale for why it was selected. Our clients are welcomed into the decision-making process and are active in structuring a customized treatment plan.

Take the first step

If you or your loved one are interested in learning more about starting DBT-ED with us, please book a free consultation call with one of our DBT team members.

Contact Us

Please schedule your complimentary 15-minute informational intake or fill out the form below and we will respond within one to two business days.