When Treatment Isn?t Enough: Why Traditional Approaches Fail Chronic Eating Disorders and What We Can Do Better

Breaking from the traditional narrow treatment focus on food, weight, and short-term behavior change, this book is the first to directly address chronic and relapsing eating disorders and offers clinicians and families a realistic, research-based framework to navigate systemic barriers such as insurance, weight bias, and the "treatment resistant" label.

When Treatment Isn’t Enough challenges outdated approaches to eating disorder care by reframing how we understand chronic and relapsing illness. Drawing on clinical expertise, neurobiology, and lived experience, it offers a compassionate and practical framework that goes beyond surface-level symptom management. More than a guide, it is a call to action that empowers providers and instills hope in those who have struggled for years without lasting progress.

This book equips clinicians, families, and students with concrete tools to navigate systemic barriers, address underlying complexities, and foster meaningful recovery.

Kaitlyn Cornell, LCSW, CEDS-S, is the founder and director of KC Counseling PLLC and KC Eating Disorder Clinic, a multidisciplinary eating disorder clinic in Champaign, Illinois. She is also the founder of Nourish to Flourish, a nonprofit dedicated to eating disorder awareness and advocacy, and a lecturer at the University of Illinois. She specializes in the treatment of complex and chronic eating disorders and is passionate about improving access to effective, compassionate care.