The Pediatric Psychosomatic Department of the Edmond and Lily Safra Children's Hospital, the Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, Israel, was founded in 1987 by Dr. Edith Miterany. The Chaim Sheba Medical Center is a tertiary care center with the Pediatric Psychosomatic Department serving as a nationwide referral center. This psychiatric department specializes in the treatment of eating disorders (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, morbid obesity associated with binge eating disorder, and eating disorders related to medical problems, e.g., diabetes mellitus) among children and adolescents. Patients are referred for hospitalization in this department only if outpatient or other inpatient treatment has failed.

Twenty patients are hospitalized at each period of time and around 80 patients are hospitalized yearly. The department runs a halfway out day center that operates twice a week, in the afternoon after school, and an ambulatory follow-up service of weight and disordered eating and problems related to comorbid disturbances until the age of 18. The halfway out day center includes between 15-20 patients at each period of time and between 40- 50 patients are treated every year. The ambulatory clinic currently treats around 40 patients. The department has treated over 1000 patients since its foundation.

Treatment is based on behavioral rehabilitation of disordered eating performed by a multi-professional team. The establishment of target weight in the case of anorexia nervosa is based on the premorbid height, i.e., the patient's height before the onset of illness, according to growth charts that exist in Israel for all children under the age of 18 years.

Each patient receives 2 weekly sessions of individual psychotherapy (mostly dynamic), one weekly session of family therapy (according to a modified structural model), and one weekly session of movement therapy.

The department offers the following group therapies: two weekly sessions of dynamic group psychotherapy, one weekly group session of cognitive behavioral therapy, one weekly group session of dialectic behavioral therapy, and one weekly group session of dietetic counseling. Additionally the patients receive either a one weekly group session of dynamic movement therapy (around five patients in this model are treated by around 5 therapists, to overcome the patients' reluctance to such an intervention), or a one weekly group session of cognitive behavioral movement therapy. The parents receive, in addition to the individual family sessions, a one weekly psychoeducational group treatment.

The team includes certified child and adolescent psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, movement therapists, nutritionists, nurses and milieu coordinators. The department's school enables the inpatients to continue their formal education. It includes a coordinating teacher and all necessary professional teachers, including the provision of physical education specifically adapted for eating disorders patients.

As a university-affiliated teaching department, the Pediatric Psychosomatic Department trains medical students, psychiatric residents, nursing students, masters' level clinical psychologists, nutritionists, and movement therapy students.

The research center of the department conducts ongoing research in the field of eating disorders, other pediatric psychiatric disorders, and psychosocial aspects of pediatric medical disorders. The following articles have been published by researches of the Pediatric Psychosomatic Department, in collaboration with other research centers.

Department at a Glance
Number of Inpatients per Year - 50
Number of Outpatient Visits per Year - 5800+ 380 Visits in Day Care
Director - Prof. Daniel Stein Prof. Daniel Stein graduated from the Hebrew University medical School in Jerusalem in 1980.  He has been a Certified Psychiatrist since 1984 and a Certified Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist since 1986.  In 1998 he was appointed the Director of the Pediatric Psychosomatic Department at the Chaim Sheba Medical Center.Prof. Stein is a Senior Lecturer at the Tel Aviv University Sackler School of Medicine. He is also a member of the European College of Neuropsychiatry, the American Academy of Eating Disorders, and the American Eating Disorder Research Society. Prof. Stein has had more than 70 articles published.
Address - The Edmond & Lily Safra Children's Hospital
E-mail - Daniel.Stein@sheba.health.gov.il
Tel - 972-3-530-2690