Program Overview

Our mission statement is to bring these gold-standard treatments out of the purely academic realm and offer them to in a way that meets the individual needs of our patients.

The Mount Sinai Eating and Weight Disorders Program offers:

• Consultations
• Comprehensive diagnostic assessments
• Individualized treatment plans to address each patient's needs
• Treatment for co-occurring or related conditions such as depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, body dysmorphic disorder, and substance abuse
• Specialized treatment for problems associated with distorted body image, including low self-esteem
• Treatment tailored to address the unique needs of male patients with eating disorders, obesity, or other body image disturbances
• Special services for athletes and performers with eating disorders
• Interventions that include cognitive behavioral therapy and family-based techniques
• Where necessary, arranging consultations with psychiatrists within the department to evaluate medical conditions related to the eating disorder and/or the use of psychiatric medications
• The Mount Sinai Eating and Weight Disorders Program is an affiliate of the New York State Comprehensive Care Centers for Eating Disorders, and a founding program in the Mount Sinai Women’s Initiative in Psychiatry.

Our Philosophy

We look to science to inform our treatment approaches. All treatment interventions conducted at the Mount Sinai Eating and Weight Disorders Program are based on cutting-edge or well established research. We work from evidence that demonstrates which approaches are the most effective, the most rapid, and the most likely to protect against relapse. We combine treatments that work for eating disorders with the individual needs of the patient and family to create a treatment plan that ensures our clients receive the best care available.

We employ a stepped-care approach. At the Mount Sinai program, we start with outpatient care, whenever possible, and move upward in treatment intensity only as necessary. Research has shown that several forms of outpatient treatment are effective for eating and weight disorders. These treatments help patients both in the short-run and long-term. For example, studies on outpatient family-based treatment for adolescents with anorexia nervosa show that 90% of patients are doing well at five-year follow-up. Outpatient treatments also preserve the quality of life that is so often disrupted by an inpatient stay.

Hospitalization is reserved for patients who are medically unstable or for whom outpatient interventions have not resolved the disorder. When hospitalization does prove necessary, we work to gradually decrease the intensity of treatment so that patients can learn to apply their new skills to the home, school, or work environments.

We view the family as a resource in the treatment process. Studies have shown that family involvement is a key ingredient in treatment for adolescents with eating and weight disorders. Rather than being the source of the problem, as many parents fear, family often proves to be an essential part of the solution.

We believe in providing education for our consumers. It can be difficult to find the right psychological treatment for your needs, particularly when that treatment is needed urgently. We believe that all of our patients should be informed about the type of treatment they are receiving, why we think it will be helpful, and what they should expect if they choose to continue receiving treatment in our clinic. To this end, we have developed a quarterly Newsletter that is distributed to all patients and written by our staff, which discusses recent developments in the field and new opportunities for research and treatment at the clinic.