The Ranch: Using Integrative Medicine in Treating Eating Disorders

Eating disorder treatment is continually evolving to meet the diverse needs of those struggling with these life-threatening illnesses. On the leading edge of this evolution is Carolyn Coker Ross, MD, MPH, a pioneer in the use of integrative medicine to treat eating disorders. Dr. Ross has headed some of the nation’s leading eating disorders programs, maintains a private practice, and serves as an eating disorder consultant for The Ranch, a Tennessee rehabilitation center for eating disorders, addictions and other mental health disorders.

After many years of treating people with a wide range of illnesses, Dr. Ross says, “It finally came to me that I could not explain, nor could science, all that happens in people’s lives.” And though she has a strong foundation in “hard science,” she also recognizes that many factors, including stress and lifestyle habits, influence our thoughts and behaviors. This was the starting point for her work in integrative medicine.

What Is Integrative Medicine?

Integrative medicine is an exciting and expanding field that combines conventional and alternative medicine to treat the whole person – mind, body and spirit. According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, integrative medicine “combines mainstream medical therapies and CAM therapies for which there is some high-quality scientific evidence of safety and effectiveness.”

Physicians who practice integrative medicine draw from research-backed conventional approaches, including medication, as well as alternative approaches such as acupuncture and nutraceutical therapy. They partner with their patients to evaluate all of the factors that can influence health and develop a treatment plan that promotes healing in all of these areas.

How Integrative Medicine Promotes Eating Disorder Recovery

Rather than focusing on eating disorders solely as a physical or emotional disease, integrative medicine addresses both of these areas as the same time, as well as the social, cultural and spiritual spheres. Integrative medicine delves deeper than treating symptoms, exploring the issues that caused the symptoms. In addition to being natural, noninvasive and less costly than many conventional therapies, alternative approaches expand the treatment options available to those struggling with hard-to-treat illnesses like eating disorders.

“Illness is an opportunity … a call for us to look at things in our lives that are not working,” says Dr. Ross. “If you were to take advantage of the opportunity you would need to really look beyond the physical manifestation of the imbalance and really look at your life as a whole because illness doesn’t exist in a vacuum.”

Integrative Eating Disorder Treatment at The Ranch

The Ranch is one of the only programs in the nation that utilizes integrative medicine in the treatment of eating disorders. Eating disorder treatment at The Ranch incorporates evidence-based therapies from both conventional and alternative systems, including:

• Process Groups

• Individual Therapy

• Expressive Therapies (Art, Music, Writing, Dance)

• Adventure Therapy

• Equine Therapy

• Nutritional Workshops

• Medicine Wheel

• Labyrinth

• Native-American Sweat Lodge

• Yoga, Tai Chi & Meditation

• Massage

• 12-Step Meetings

• Staff-Assisted Meals & Meal Processing Groups

• Individualized Food Plans & Weekly Appointments with a Registered Dietician

• Restaurant Outings & Group Dinners

• EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)

• Coping Skills Training

• Psychiatric Evaluation

• Eating Disorder Extended Care Program

• Family Program

Located in the rolling hills of Nunnelly, Tennessee, The Ranch makes use of its beautiful surroundings to help patients reconnect with nature and develop their own sense of spirituality. A small group of women reside in the Lake House, creating a family setting where patients live, share meals and participate in therapeutic activities together. As a member of The Ranch community, patients learn how to plan and prepare meals and develop the real-life skills that will serve them when they return home.

The treatment team at The Ranch emphasizes functional nutrition, which means not only discussing nutrition in an abstract way but also learning how nutrition affects the way we function, all the way down to our digestion, moods, energy and sleep. Utilizing nutraceutical therapy to restore balance in these areas, patients have fewer physical ailments, which allows them to focus on the work of recovery.

People struggling with eating disorders are often out of touch with their bodies, including what hunger, anger and other sensations feel like on a physical level. Rebuilding the mind-body connection helps patients become mindful of their feelings and limiting beliefs and how those can lead to destructive behaviors. It also restores confidence in the “absolute perfection of our physiology, in which we are always getting cues from the body with regard to what we feel,” notes Dr. Ross.

A Journey of Self

The ultimate goal of eating disorder treatment at The Ranch, says Dr. Ross, is reconnecting with the true self. For some, this may mean pursuing a career or hobby they always wanted or finding something that they are passionate about in life. For others, it may mean developing a spiritual connection that provides a sense of purpose.

“The self that exhibits the behaviors of eating disorders is really a false self,” explains Dr. Ross. “If they can hook back into life or anchor into the deeper urges of their soul, then they start to have something to live for beyond the next day, beyond the next score, or beyond simply wondering how I can get through the day without eating.”

Although it would be much more convenient if it weren’t so, eating disorder recovery is a lifelong process, not an event that can be written on a calendar. It can take a lifetime to learn how to experience emotional pain without trying to numb it with an eating disorder, addiction or other unhealthy coping mechanism – and to stay committed to recovery even when times are good.

“This journey should not end when the siren call is less insistent,” says Dr. Ross, “but rather become part of the fabric of a life well lived in search of wellness of body, mind and spirit.”

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