Eating Disorder Treatment in Colorado

You may have an eating disorder if thoughts about food, eating, or your body have become preoccupying, distressing, or are driving behaviors that feel out of your control. Warning signs include rigid food rules, skipping meals, secretive eating, intense guilt after eating, compulsive exercise, or withdrawing from social situations that involve food. Eating disorders affect people of every age, background, and body type, so you cannot tell whether someone is struggling by appearance alone.

You do not need to be certain, or to feel "sick enough," to seek an evaluation; if your relationship with food is causing real distress or interfering with daily life, that is reason enough. Dr. Stern begins with a thorough psychiatric evaluation covering eating patterns, mood, anxiety, medical history, and family context, and sees adults and adolescents in Fraser, Colorado and statewide via telepsychiatry.

An eating disorder psychiatrist is a medical doctor who diagnoses eating disorders, treats the psychiatric conditions that drive them, prescribes and monitors medication when appropriate, and in some practices also provides psychotherapy. Because eating disorders sit at the intersection of mental and physical health, a psychiatrist brings both lenses: assessing mood, anxiety, obsessive thinking, and trauma while staying alert to the medical effects of disordered eating and coordinating with primary care physicians and dietitians.

This dual training matters because anxiety, depression, and OCD frequently co-occur with eating disorders and can stall recovery if left untreated. Dr. Stern, a double board-certified psychiatrist, provides both evidence-based psychotherapy (CBT, ERP, ACT, and psychodynamic therapy) and medication management within the same treatment, and collaborates with dietitians, therapists, and primary care providers to keep care coordinated and whole-person.

Not everyone with an eating disorder needs a large treatment team, but most people benefit from at least a psychiatric provider, a medical doctor monitoring physical health, and often a registered dietitian. The right size of the team depends on symptom severity, medical stability, and how long the eating disorder has been present. Some patients do well with a single specialist anchoring their care; others need coordinated support across several disciplines at once.

What matters most is that someone is looking at the whole picture rather than treating pieces in isolation. Because Dr. Stern provides both psychotherapy and medication management herself, she can serve as the anchor of outpatient eating disorder treatment, then coordinate with your dietitian and primary care physician as needed, or help you build that team if you do not have one yet.

Yes, medications can play a supporting role in eating disorder treatment, though they work best alongside psychotherapy rather than as a stand-alone answer. Certain antidepressants have evidence for reducing binge and purge behaviors in bulimia, an FDA-approved medication exists for binge eating disorder, and medication options for anorexia are more limited, which is why therapy and nutritional restoration remain central there. Just as importantly, medication can treat the anxiety, depression, and obsessive thinking that so often accompany eating disorders and make recovery harder.

Whether medication makes sense for you depends on your diagnosis, medical status, and history, and it is a decision to make together with a psychiatrist. When medication can support recovery, Dr. Stern prescribes and monitors it carefully, explains every decision, and pairs it with evidence-based therapy in the same treatment.

Eating disorder treatment is organized into levels of care that step up in intensity: outpatient care (regular appointments while living at home), intensive outpatient programs (IOP) with several sessions per week, partial hospitalization programs (PHP) with structured daytime treatment, residential treatment with around-the-clock support, and inpatient hospitalization for medical or psychiatric stabilization. The right level depends on medical stability, symptom severity, and how much structure someone needs to interrupt the eating disorder.

Many people do well at the outpatient level, and others step down to outpatient care after completing a more intensive program. Dr. Stern provides specialized outpatient treatment combining psychotherapy and medication management, and when a higher level of care is needed she helps patients transition to an appropriate program and continues coordinating so that nothing falls through the cracks.

You can help someone with an eating disorder by expressing concern with compassion, listening without judgment, and encouraging a professional evaluation rather than trying to manage their eating yourself. Choose a calm, private moment and focus on specific behaviors and feelings you have noticed, not on weight or appearance.

• Use "I" statements, such as "I have noticed you seem anxious at meals, and I am worried"
• Avoid commenting on weight, body size, or what is on their plate
• Do not police food, bargain, or turn mealtimes into a battleground
• Offer practical help, like researching providers or sitting with them for a first call

Expect some defensiveness; ambivalence is part of the illness, not a sign you should give up. Dr. Stern offers screening calls for new patients, which can be a low-pressure first step for a hesitant loved one.

Yes, eating disorder treatment for teens is available in Colorado, and early intervention matters because adolescence is when many eating disorders first take hold and when treatment can most change a young person's trajectory. Effective adolescent care looks different from adult care: parents and caregivers are usually involved, school and social pressures are addressed directly, and treatment accounts for a teen's ongoing physical and emotional development.

A psychiatric evaluation can clarify whether a teen's eating patterns reflect an eating disorder, anxiety, depression, or some combination, and what level of support is actually needed. Dr. Stern completed a two-year child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at the University of Colorado and treats adolescents as well as adults, offering in-person appointments at her Fraser office, hybrid care, and secure telepsychiatry for families across the state of Colorado.