Eating Disorders
Therapy for Eating Disorders
Get the mental health treatment you deserve in person or from the comfort of your own home.
Mental health treatment should begin where you are and with your needs. We believe that mental health starts with your thoughts, but it doesn’t end there. Mental health should include how you feel, how your body feels, and everything that’s happening around you. That’s why we take a completely holistic approach.
That’s why we focus on what’s going on in your life through tailored, 1:1 individual therapy that you can do right from the comfort of your own home or in person. It’s designed for you, by you.
You don’t have to figure out all the answers by yourself. You can and should have the life you want.
Think you may have an eating disorder?
Take a free assessment about your mental health to see if disordered eating is a part of your life.
Eating disorders don’t know the difference between age or gender. 1
Disordered eating is a serious mental health condition that has a high likelihood of potentially fatal health issues and suicide attempts.
It’s important to know that disordered eating patterns are never about the food and have a high likelihood of being present with other mental health disorders, such as depression, anxiety, personality disorders, and trauma.
Mental Health Treatment on Your Terms
Manage Your Symptoms
Develop skills and manage thoughts that cause the focus of your life to be centered around food and food-related behaviors. Identify the symptoms that are happening because of and in addition to eating disorder behaviors and what can be done about them.
Explore Your Past
Find out more about how your past is influencing your present and causing you to attempt to control your life and your emotions through controlling food. Learn more about WHY you are reacting to things the way that you are and what you can do about it.
Regain Your Control
You’re in control. Through a non-judgmental and honest approach to therapy, you can find out more about yourself at your pace by shaping the sessions based on your comfort.
Common Sources
A variety of factors, including genetics, biology, psychology, and environment, can cause eating disorders.
Family history, imbalances in brain chemicals, certain personality traits, and social pressures, like social media, exposure to diet culture, and demands of athletics can all contribute to developing eating disorders.
Childhood trauma, frequent dieting, and major life changes can also trigger eating disorders.
Hormonal fluctuations and past comments about weight or appearance can also play a role.
These are serious and potentially life-threatening conditions. Treatment usually involves a combination of medical, nutritional, and psychological therapy.
Anorexia Nervosa
Severely restricting food intake through dieting or fasting
Exercising excessively
Preoccupation with food, which sometimes includes cooking elaborate meals, but not eating them
Frequently skipping meals or refusing to eat
Denial of hunger or making excuses for not eating
Eating only a few “safe” foods, usually those low in fat and calories
Rigid meal or eating rituals and not wanting to eat in public
Extreme weight loss or not making expected developmental weight gains
Thin appearance
Physical health symptoms such as low blood pressure, fatigue, insomnia, dizziness or fainting, absence of menstruation, intolerance to cold, hair breaking or falling out, constipation and abdominal pain
Bulimia Nervosa
Preoccupation with body shape and weight
Living in fear of gaining weight
Repeated episodes of eating abnormally large amounts of food in one sitting
Feeling a loss of control during eating
Forcing yourself to vomit, exercise, or use laxatives after eating to keep from gaining weight
Fasting, restricting calories, or avoiding certain foods
Using dietary supplements or herbal products excessively for weight loss
Dental, esophogeal, and gastrointestinal issues
Using the bathroom rights after eating or for long periods of time
Face or cheek swelling
Binge-Eating Disorder
Eating unusually large amounts of food in a specific time frame, such as over a two hour period
Feeling that your eating is out of control
Eating even when you’re full or not hungry
Eating rapidly during binge episodes
Eating until you’re uncomfortably full
Frequently eating alone or in secret
Feeling depressed, disgusted, ashamed, or guilty about your eating
Frequently dieting without weight loss
Physical health problems such as issues with getting around, obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, GERD, sleep apnea
Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)
ARFID is an eating disorder that does not include concerns with body image or a desire to lose weight
Feeling full before meals or having no appetite
Limiting how much food you eat
Only eating foods with certain textures
Fear of what could happen after eating, like vomiting or choking
Picky eating that gets worse and limits the range of foods that can be eaten
Physical health issues like significant weight loss, constipation, abdominal pain, low body temperature, fatigue, irregular menstrual cycles
Rumination Disorder
Repeated and unintentional vomiting food and then eating it or spitting it out
Behavior happens at every meal soon after eating
Abdominal pain or pressure that is relieved by regurgitation/vomiting
Bad breath
Nausea
Unintentional weight loss
Embarrassment
PICA
Behavior where a person repeatedly swallows non-food items
Common non-food items: ash, baby powder, chalk, charcoal, clay, dirt, coffee grounds, eggshells, hair, string, ice, laundry starch, paint chips, paper, small rocks, pet food, soap
Typically affects children under the age of 6, pregnant women, and those with certain health issues such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, Schizophrenia, or Intellectual Disabilities
Physical health issues such as anemia, roundworm infections, constipation, electrolyte imbalances, irregular heart rhythms, lead poisoning, intestinal blockage
Is Therapy Right for Me?
Our approach is focused on finding solutions to your experiences.
We use an integrated approach that is tailored to your needs, including maximizing any resources that you may already have. Using an integrated approach of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), we can begin to explore how your thoughts, behaviors, and emotions are connected and influence each other while breaking any cycles that aren’t working for you anymore.
Through our work together, we can isolate triggers and begin to reconstruct their influence on your life, build better habits and communication skills, and learn new and more helpful ways of managing symptoms while reducing their impact on your life.
Ready to find out more and begin your journey of healing?
Questions? We’ve got answers!
Can’t I do this alone? Why do I have to tell a therapist these things?
While many people are able to recognize that some of the things that they’re doing are not healthy and even potentially dangerous, it’s not enough to just target the behaviors. Eating disorders are complex and involve the way we think. Also, because of the health issues related to eating disorders and the high suicide rates associated, eating disorders can be very dangerous and even fatal. It is not advised to try to treat eating disorders without professionally trained support.
Ok, fine, but I can’t see my life ever being different.
Many people feel that way about a lot of mental health issues going on in their lives. We get so accustomed to living a certain way, that it seems impossible that our lives could ever be different. Our approach not only focuses on changing those behaviors that help to support the eating disorder but also looks at our thoughts and how those are playing a role. It takes time and effort, but it isn’t impossible. Many people with therapy are able to find a healthy lifestyle.
Aren’t eating disorders specific to women and girls?
This is a common myth. Many boys and men experience difficulties with unhealthy eating patterns. While it has received a lot of attention as a female mental health disorder, this is a dangerous assumption. The pressures to “look a certain way” effect men just as well as women and men should be able to feel comfortable seeking support for disordered eating as well.
Life can be hard, but getting set up doesn’t have to be.
Types of Eating Disorders
PICA
Rumination Disorder
Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)
Anorexia Nervosa
Bulimia Nervosa
Binge-Eating Disorder
Find out if your insurance will cover treatment
Most insurance companies cover mental health services. Finding out if your insurance will cover your treatment is as easy as 1, 2, 3. Fill out a simple form and let us do the checking for you.