CCED's eating disorder and mental health treatment philosophy lends itself to research. We incorporate the field's most proven effective therapies for eating disorder treatment. We encourage you to Contact Us to learn more.

Since 2006, we have offered patients a greater chance for eating disorder recovery by modeling our outpatient treatment programs after the most up-to-date, evidence-based techniques, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and Maudsley Family Based Therapy. 

Studies have shown the delay in a patient receiving effective care is a contributing factor for high
morbidity of eating disorders. Many patients remain in outpatient therapy or other less intensive programs long after that level of care has been shown to be ineffective.

CCED’s Guiding Principles on Eating Disorder and Mental Health Treatment

In general, unless a provider has intensive, specialized training, eating disorders can rarely be treated successfully. In fact, issues such as re-feeding can bring about additional medical complications, including cardiac concerns, which may make it impossible to treat the eating disorder. Instead, it puts the patient at risk, in the hospital or can even cause death.

Our eating disorder treatment center is unique to Northeast Ohio because we are guided by a set of principles that offers patients a greater chance for eating disorder recovery:

• CCED’s outpatient treatment programs only incorporate evidence-based techniques: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and Maudsley Family Based Therapy (FBT). In this field, these are the treatments available that have the most robust evidence basis. 

Though many providers offer DBT therapy, CCED is the only center in the region where our DBT techniques are based on the teachings of founder Dr. Marsha Linehan. Plus, CCED offers the largest group of Maudsely FBT therapists in the state.

• All CCED therapists must be trained in evidence-based therapies and receive ongoing supervision to ensure that their practice conforms to the highest level of care. Our team is led by Mark Warren MD and Lucene Wisniewski PhD, both fellows in the Academy for Eating Disorders and nationally known lecturers and experts on eating disorders.
• CCED takes a customized approach to every patient. All treatment plans are tailored to each individual in terms of his/her meal plan, length of stay, treatment modality and treatment success benchmarks. Programs that offer a specific number of sessions, or weeks of treatment, may not be evidence based or focused on the personal needs of each patient.
• CCED employs an interdisciplinary team of specialists that are assigned to each patient’s ongoing treatment plan to ensure the best chance of a successful recovery. Our teams are comprised of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, counselors, dietitians and adolescent medicine specialists.

In addition, we work collaboratively with all providers of care throughout our community, including residential treatment centers and hospitals. We understand CCED is a part of a larger system of care with the hope of supporting patients throughout their lives.

In the last 25 years, significant progress has been made in the development and evaluation of evidence-based treatments for eating disorders.

In a recent study, Evidence-Based Psychosocial Treatments for Eating Problems and Eating Disorders, it proves evidence-based therapies offer the highest success rates among adolescents suffering from eating disorders. It reviews the efficacy of various psychosocial interventions, including Maudsley Family Based Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and behavioral therapy, for eating disorders in adolescents.

It reveals, “The evidence base is strongest for the Maudsley model of family therapy for anorexia nervosa. Results from randomized controlled trials in adult samples indicate that CBT is the treatment of choice for older adolescents (18-21) with bulimia nervosa.”

Another recent study, A Systematic Review of Dialectical Behavior Therapy for the Treatment of Eating Disorders, found DBT treatments to appear effective in addressing eating disorder behaviors and other forms of psychopathology in eating disorder samples.

The findings state, “DBT appears beneficial in reducing ED behaviors, such as binging, purging and restricting … . Another strength of DBT is minimal dropout rates, supporting the possibility of its usefulness for individuals who have struggled in other treatments.”