Intensive day Treatment programme (ITP) An alternative for inpatient treatment for adolescent restrictive eating disorders
We will present the Intensive day Treatment Programme (ITP) for adolescents aged 11-18 with predominantly restrictive eating disorders which was developed at the Maudsley Hospital in 2010. ITP is a group programme that operates five days per week (9.45-15.30) with two longer days to include an evening meal, one of which includes families.
There is capacity for 8-10 young people to attend each day. Young people are referred to ITP as an alternative to inpatient treatment or as a step-down from inpatient psychiatric or paediatric care or if their recovery is not progressing with the outpatient treatment.
ITP aims to help the young person and their family to move to a position where they can re-engage in outpatient treatment.
Prior to commencing ITP most young people express low motivation to recover, have multiple maintaining factors for restrictive ED and their parents may have been struggling to provide consistent support at home.
ITP focuses on mobilising family resources and the group therapy sessions target factors associated with the maintenance of restrictive eating disorders, including elevated intolerance of uncertainty, anxiety, cognitive rigidity, high detail-focused processing, maladaptive perfectionism, low self-esteem and difficulties with emotional recognition and expression.
Dr Mima Simic