March 2011
March 2011 Newsletter
CEDAR Associates is a multi-disciplinary private group practice for the treatment of a full range of mental health issues for individuals and their family. CEDAR Associates specializes in the prevention and treatment of eating disorders and the problems that often accompany them including depression, self-harm, anxiety, relational issues, sexual and physical trauma and body image issues.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Track
Cedar Associates is pleased to announce the opening of its Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Track including both DBT Skills Group* and individual therapy for adolescents and adults
DBT Skills Group is a psychoeducational group specifically designed for individuals who have difficulties with self-harm, emotion dysregulation and impulse control. Participants are taught skills in four important areas: mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation, and distress tolerance. DBT combines cognitive behavioral therapy strategies with Eastern (Zen) practices and has been found to be effective in reducing self-destructive behavior and in optimizing ability to cope effectively.
*Adolescent group 13-17
Adult group 18+
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for Eating Disorders
Nicole Celentano, PsyD, CEDS
Cedar Associates
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a comprehensive treatment specifically developed for individuals with self-harm behaviors, including self-cutting, frequent suicidal thoughts, urges, or attempts, and other self-destructive tendencies. Many individuals with these behavior patterns also meet criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). In recent years, DBT has been utilized in the treatment of eating disorders with promising results.
Eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder are often marked by underlying difficulties with affect regulation. The eating disorder behaviors often serve as a means to regulate intolerable affective states in individuals with few or no other adaptive strategies for regulating affect. Eating disorder behaviors tend to function to narrow attention and cognitive focus from aversive thoughts and provide immediate escape from painful emotions. A key assertion in DBT is that self-destructive behaviors are learned coping strategies for unbearable negative emotions. Because of the emphasis on emotion regulation and development of adaptive coping mechanisms, DBT has been found to be an effective treatment for eating disorders.
DBT combines cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) strategies with Eastern (Zen) practices and involves both individual therapy and group skills training. DBT skills groups teach participants skills in four important areas: mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation, and distress tolerance. Additional components of DBT include telephone coaching and therapist group consultation.
Specifically, DBT teaches individuals with eating disorders to identify triggers for disordered eating and to develop better ways to respond to stress, such as breathing or relaxation exercises, taking and emotional timeout, or finding a healthy distraction. It also guides eating disorder sufferers through the practice of mindful eating, increasing awareness of emotional responses to food while preparing or eating meals. To combat guilt, shame, and other self-defeating emotions, DBT encourages recognition and acceptance of feelings without judgment or behavioral acting out.
Clinical research has consistently found DBT to be effective in reducing self-destructive behavior patterns and in optimizing ability to cope more effectively. Recent studies show promising results for using DBT with eating disorders, particularly binge eating and bulimia. In fact, several published clinical trials have reported 82 to 90 percent rates of abstinence from binge eating at the end of a 20 session DBT program. With ongoing research, DBT may become a widespread approach for treating eating disorders.