Eating Disorder Therapy

Types of eating disorders and disordered eating we treat:

  • anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa
  • bingeing and binge eating disorder
  • other specified feeding and eating disorders (OSFED), including atypical anorexia, diabulimia, and orthorexia
  • avoidant-restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID)
  • rumination disorder
  • chronic dieting
  • disordered eating wherever it lands on the continuum of food issues (you don’t have to have a “clinical” eating disorder to deserve help!)

Things we treat alongside eating disorders

Eating disorders are always accompanied by other mental health challenges, so we don’t focus only on food or body image. Our relationship with food and our bodies doesn’t develop in a vacuum, but are highly impacted by many factors. Other issues we commonly treat in therapy alongside disordered eating include:

  • anxiety and depression
  • trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  • obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
  • ADHD
  • substance (drug and alcohol) abuse
  • bipolar disorder
  • borderline personality disorder
  • self-harm and suicidal thoughts

From a philosophical perspective, all of our therapists and coaches are anti-diet, Health At Every Size® (HAES)-friendly professionals. That means we do not encourage clients to go on any kind of diet nor do we encourage intentional weight loss. We feel that would unethical considering intentional weight loss fails long-term 95% of the time and has negative physical and emotional consequences, especially for those with eating disorders.

Our goal is to help you break free from diet culture and your own internal critic so you can finally—maybe for the first time in your life!—call a truce with food and your body. Instead of dieting and restriction, you can eat intuitively and enjoy all kinds of foods without guilt and shame!

Below are some examples of common therapeutic goals we might work on in eating disorder therapy, but this is certainly not an exhaustive list and treatment depends on your particular issues with food and body image.

Goals Related to Food

  • Learn the principles of and scientific foundation for HAES® and intuitive eating
  • Recognize and honor hunger and fullness cues
  • Learn to eat and live life more mindfully (that is, with more awareness and joy)
  • Neutralize food anxiety and getting rid of the good food/bad food mentality
  • Stop the restriction/bingeing cycle if that’s present
  • Stop any compensatory behaviors, such as purging
  • Enjoy a wider variety of foods
  • Change the mental obsession of thinking about food all the time

Body and Body Image Goals

  • Accept your body, whatever size or shape you are
  • Stop any harmful behaviors against your body, such as self-harm, picking, not taking insulin as needed, abusing laxatives, etc.
  • Stop body-checking behaviors, such as mirror checking and weighing
  • Incorporate intuitive movement into your life so you can move your body in ways that actually feel good

Emotional and Psychological Goals

  • Recognize and change problematic thinking patterns
  • Build emotional intelligence so you can understand your emotions
  • Learn healthy emotional regulation skills so emotions don’t overwhelm you or you don’t avoid them in destructive ways
  • Recognize positive traits about yourself
  • Develop more self-compassion for your imperfections and mistakes
  • Explore your identity, values and life goals outside of your eating disorder and appearance
  • Improve relationships with others through interpersonal skills such as communication skills, boundary-setting, and more

Team members who have the most experience with eating disorder therapy:

Cherie Miller, MS, LPC-S
Alessandra Capasso, MS, LPC
Amy Scott, M.Ed., LPC

Ready to get started on your eating disorder therapy and recovery? 

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