2-Year Training Program
Two-Year Program in the Integrated Treatment of Eating Disorders
Since its inception, CSAB’s Two Year Training Program in the Integrated Treatment of Eating Disorders has recognized the need to address the interface of eating disorders with substance abuse; physical, emotional, and sexual abuse; and a history of trauma in patients’ lives. The training curriculum includes literature in these areas. Heavy emphasis is placed upon expanding the therapist’s theoretical and methodological expertise. Knowledge of biological, medical, and sociological factors is also stressed. In addition, CSAB provides coursework in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. In recent years, the training program at CSAB has expanded to include the study of a range of food and eating issues from disordered eating to full blown eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder.
This program is based upon the conviction that eating disorders represent maladaptive efforts to resolve profound psychological conflicts or deficits. Eating disorders are multidimensional issues that include intrapsychic, interpersonal, physiological, and sociocultural aspects. It is our philosophy that effective treatment must be responsive to all of these components as they are expressed in each case.
The goal of the program is to enable the therapist to create a therapeutic environment, which will lead to symptom relief and the resumption of the patient’s psychological and physiological development.
Curriculum
Each course runs for 18 weeks. All courses and group supervision takes place on Monday nights from 5:30 to 9 PM. Students who wish to take these courses on a non-matriculating basis may apply to do so. E-mail csab@icpnyc.org for more information.
First Year, Fall
This course will provide a solid foundation of basic psychodynamic theories and an overview of the basics of treating people with eating disorders. Additional speakers who make up a typical treatment team will discuss their roles in treating patients with eating disorder. Speakers include a nutritionist, psychopharmacologist, therapist, and physician.
This class will focus on techniques for assessing the signs and symptoms of eating disorders, and determining suitability for outpatient cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) vs. more intensive day treatment or inpatient treatment. DSM-V diagnostic criteria for bulimia nervosa (BN), anorexia nervosa (AN), and binge eating disorder (BED) will be reviewed, as well as different weight criteria and standards (e.g., body mass index vs. percentage of ideal body weight) used in research studies and clinical settings. Required information that should be obtained in the evaluation interview will be covered in detail. Research on the efficacy of CBT treatment studies will also be reviewed.
First Year, Spring
This course will cover a multitude of issues as they relate to patients with eating disorders. Students will read literature and discuss issues including: sexual abuse and eating disorders, dissociation and eating disorders, family therapy and eating disorders, countertransference, self-harm and eating disorders, substance abuse and eating disorders, group therapy for eating disorders, ethnicity and eating disorders, eating disorders in males, eating disorders in the LGBT community, and terminating with clients who have eating disorders.
In this class we will examine key concepts central to the understanding of the psychoanalytic approach. We will apply these principles to the understanding and treatment of eating disorders. The goal of this class is to take the basic knowledge that the student has and give them a more in depth mastery of the psychodynamic literature and use of metaphor in treating eating disordered patients. The course will also clarify and deepen the student/therapist’s knowledge of empathy, attunement, enactment, self-object functioning, transference & countertransference, self-regulatory functioning and narcissism.
Second Year, Fall
The class will focus on developing a basic understanding of the core concepts of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), as well as discuss how it has been adapted to effectively treat individuals with bulimia nervosa (BN) and binge eating disorder (BED). Throughout the semester, we will focus on both individual therapy techniques (i.e., behavioral chain analysis, diary cards, etc.) and group therapy skills (i.e., mindfulness, emotion regulation, and distress tolerance). Additionally, we will highlight key components to DBT including validation, dialectics, and commitment strategies. Finally, we will learn how to formulate an eating disorder case from a DBT perspective.
Advanced Psychodynamics of Eating Disorders: Clinical Applications
This course will present various articles with vignettes of the clinical application of numerous psychodynamics theories and techniques in the treatment of eating disorders. The goal of the class is to give students the opportunity to view and experience how some of the psychodynamic concepts are applied to the treatment of patients with eating disorders from the perspective of the various psychodynamic theoretical frameworks such as: Classical Freudian/Ego Psychology, Object Relational, Self-Psychological, Feminist, Interpersonal/ Relational/Inter-Subjectivity, and Neuro-Psychological/Developmental.
Second Year, Spring
In this seminar we will discuss the process of integrating the Psychodynamic, CBT and DBT modalities with the treatment of Eating Disorder patients. The participants will draw from readings in their previous coursework and from some additional articles that will be assigned, as needed, during the course of the semester. When the candidates present their cases, they will be prepared to discuss what modalities they have used and their rationale. The presentations will be followed by a group discussion of the case, including other options and directions for treatment.
The Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy provides training without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity or any other classification protected under applicable federal, state and local law.
