The Center for Mood and Eating Disorders

TMS of Asheville

William J. Simons MD   Susan E. Strain LCSW CEDS Vesna Francis PA

The Center for Mood and Eating Disorder is a new collaborative effort of mood and eating disorder specialists within the office of Psychiatry and Psychopharmacology at Park Ridge Medical Associates.  We specialize in the treatment of depression, anxiety, eating disorders, mood disorders, trauma, grief and loss and co-occurring substance abuse issues. Located on the grounds of Park Ridge Hospital, we offer outpatient services Monday through Friday, 9-5/Monday- Thursday 9-5 and Friday mornings.

Services/ Levels of Care
To compliment Park Ridge Hospital’s Inpatient Women’s Program, our expanded outpatient mental health services now include individual, group and family therapy services to offer effective, specialized outpatient care for women.  In addition to our short term acute inpatient care, we will be offering intensive outpatient programs for eating disorders and for general psychiatric stabilization. We accept Medicare and most major insurance policies.

Treatment Philosophy
Park Ridge Hospital has been a center of excellence for women’s psychiatric care in the community for many years. We believe that lasting recovery must start with a comprehensive diagnostic/ initial assessment that takes into consideration biological, medical, nutritional, psychological, social, relational and spiritual perspectives.  Our treatment philosophy is founded on a commitment to a true multidisciplary team approach that takes into consideration the value of each of these perspectives.  It is through this multi-layered and historical view that we arrive at an informed understanding of the nature of an individual’s problem areas and develop a plan of care that is tailored to meet their needs and maximize their strengths.

While treatment at the Center for Mood and Eating Disorders will incorporate both insight oriented and cognitive behavioral strategies (such as *IPSRT and *DBT), we also provide a strong psychiatric dimension to care. We believe that a biological vulnerability to depression, anxiety or irritability may explain the overlap between many of these conditions as well as eating disorders, substance abuse disorders and other compulsive behaviors. Our clinical experience at the Center for Mood and Eating Disorders has led us to believe that for some, self destructive behaviors that have not responded well to other approaches may be linked to underlying mood instability.  Left untreated, mood and anxiety disorders will make recovery efforts more difficult or even impossible. Fluctuating moods will leave women struggling with chronic unremitting depression, irritability, restlessness, chronic anger that lead to years of drive to restrict food, to binge or to binge and purges frequently comes out of an individual’s need to modulate uncomfortable mood states.

Unlike many other programs, we understand the subtle underlying connection between eating problems and mood.

For some, the connection between mood instability and an eating disorder is very personal and highly individualized.  To uncover the possible connection between mood and eating, a comprehensive, longitudinal and multi-dimensional assessment of symptoms is the starting point to effective treatment.  For many, these disorders may be actually be expressions of a similar underlying problem with brain neurotransmitters and circuits.  Medication, in some cases,  may be necessary to treat the fluctuating mood states.