Therapy And Counseling For Disordered Eating
Learn About Working With an Eating Disorder Therapist in Massachusetts
Disordered eating can be hard to recognize as it can stem from what one may consider healthy habits. Following a diet may lead to a preoccupation with calories deficits and excessive exercising. Seeing the fruits of your labor can make you believe that even further restriction would lead to greater and faster results. Suddenly you may find yourself obsessing over it and feeling anxious and depressed because you can’t seem to take back control of your life.
What is an Eating Disorder?
Eating Disorders are a serious, biologically influenced mental health conditions marked by a preoccupation with food and weight.
While many people are concerned about their health, weight, and image at times, those with eating disorders fixate or obsess with weight loss, body image or shape, and controlling their food or caloric intake.
Eating disorders are not a choice. Underlying feelings of shame, low self-worth, and often repressed trauma yield to maladaptive thoughts and behaviors to avoid dealing with uncomfortable emotions and unsafe environments.
Eating disorders disrupt an individual’s ability to function both socially and psychologically, and can result in serious physical health problems. In some cases, eating disorders can be life threatening.
Eating disorders affect people of all ages, genders, body sizes, races, and backgrounds. Early intervention with an experienced eating disorder therapist can significantly improve recovery outcomes.
Common Signs and Symptoms of an Eating Disorder:
- Obsessive thoughts about food or calories
- Restricting food intake
- Binge eating
- Purging behaviors
- Excessive exercise
- Fear of gaining weight
- Anxiety around eating
- Social withdrawal
- Low self-esteem
- Depression
- Body dissatisfaction
What are the Common Types of Eating Disorders?
Binge eating disorder (BED), bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) are among the most common types of eating disorders. Each type of eating disorder has its own behavioral patterns and symptoms.
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Many eating disorders can also be exacerbated by Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), a condition in which an individual becomes preoccupied with perceived flaws in their appearance that may be minor or nonexistent.
Those with BDD view themselves from an unrealistic lens. Studies have shown that Body Dysmorphia can make the brain literally distort visual perceptions of appearances in both themselves and others. They hyperfocus on details and can struggle with looking at the “big picture”.
They also believe that others are viewing them negatively, are often comparing themselves to others, and are hyperaware of their appearance.
While many see this as a women’s issue, just as many men struggle with body dysmorphia. Men’s BDD can appear as a preoccupation with muscle size, sometimes called “bigorexia”, hair thinning, or genital size. This may lead to “orthorexia”, steroid use, compulsive exercising and dieting.
Binge Eating Disorder:
A condition where people lose control of their eating and repeatedly eat excessive quantities of food beyond feeling full.
Signs and Symptoms of Binge Eating Disorder:
- Weekly episodes of binge eating for three months or more
- Weight gain
- Decreased or absent sex drive
- Eating large quantities of food in the absence of hunger
- Eating to the point of physical discomfort
- Feelings of shame after binge eating
- Low self-worth
- Depression
Binge eating disorder therapy helps individuals understand emotional eating patterns while building healthier coping skills and improving their relationship with food.
Bulimia Nervosa:
A condition where people have recurrent episodes of eating excessive quantities of food followed by behaviors to rid themselves of the food and prevent weight gain: forced vomiting, excessive use of laxatives or diuretics, fasting, excessive exercise, or a combination of these behaviors.
Signs and Symptoms of Bulimia Nervosa:
- Cycles of binge eating and purging
- Obsessive thinking about food and weight
- Low self-worth
- Negative body image
- Shame and guilt over disordered eating
- Withdrawal and isolation from family and friends
- Depression
- Weight fluctuations
- Dental erosion, dry mouth, and sialadenosis (“chipmunk cheeks”) from stomach bile
- Stomach and esophagus damage
- Russel’s Sign (“bulimia hands”) wounds on the hand from inducing vomiting
Bulimia therapy focuses on reducing binge-purge cycles while addressing the anxiety, shame, perfectionism, or trauma that often contribute to the disorder.
Anorexia Nervosa:
A condition where people avoid food, severely restrict food, or eat very small quantities of only certain foods. Individuals suffering from anorexia nervosa may weigh themselves repeatedly. Even when severely underweight, they may see themselves as overweight.
Signs and Symptoms of Anorexia Nervosa:
- Denial of hunger
- Refusal to eat
- Overwhelming fear of gaining weight
- Refusal to eat in public and desire to eat alone
- Withdrawal and isolation from loved ones
- Irritability
- Depression
- Obsession with diet and exercise
- Abuse of diet pills and diuretics
- “Off limits” food categories, such as carbohydrates or fats
Anorexia therapy helps individuals challenge restrictive eating patterns, body image concerns, and the underlying emotional factors contributing to food restriction.
Avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID):
A condition where people limit the amount or type of food consumed. Unlike anorexia nervosa, people with ARFID typically do not have a distorted body image or extreme fear of weight gain.
When a child goes through ARFID they do not consume enough calories to grow and develop properly; an adult who goes through ARFID does not consume enough calories to maintain basic body function.
“Orthorexia” is sometimes considered a form of ARFID in which the person obsesses over healthy eating and compulsive exercise, which often becomes overly restrictive and can lead to malnourishment.
Signs and Symptoms of ARFID:
- Extreme pickiness in food
- Anxiety when presented with “fear foods”
- Avoidance of particular foods based on texture, taste, color, smell, food groups, etc.
- For adults; weight loss, for children; failure to gain weight
- Dependence on nutritional supplements, a feeding tube, or both
- Frequent gagging or vomiting after exposure to certain foods
- Difficulty digesting certain foods
- Eating extremely small portions of food
- Social isolation
- Depression
ARFID therapy helps children, adolescents, and adults gradually increase food flexibility while reducing anxiety surrounding eating.
Therapy For Eating Disorders at Handel Behavioral Health:
Mental health counselors play a vital role in helping individuals recover from eating disorders. Therapists trained in eating disorders work with individuals at every stage of recovery, teach them skills to manage obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors and replace them with healthy and empowering ones.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for eating disorders is the leading evidence-based treatment in adult populations. Therapists will work with clients to explore their daily habits, thoughts, and emotions. Clients will learn to identify negative thought patterns regarding their body image or food anxiety that result in compulsive or unhealthy behaviors, and eventually, place them with healthier thoughts.
Dialectical-Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is based on CBT, with the technique used to identify and change disordered thinking and behavioral patterns, as they relate to eating behaviors. The goal of DBT for eating disorders is to increase emotional regulation, mindfulness, and distress tolerance.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a trauma-informed therapy approach for eating disorders. The therapist will help individuals safely process thoughts, feelings, and memories that may be unresolved or unwanted to think about. The process involves learning mindfulness techniques, such as breathing exercises, to tune into the present moment and accept the self. Eventually, by learning acceptance rather than avoidance, the individual can learn to let go of maladaptive coping behaviors that no longer serve them.
Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy (ERP) helps individuals overcome deep-seated fears by using repeated interactions with the object, thought, or situation to desensitize the individual to certain triggers. It may involve food exposure to certain fear foods, or potentially triggering social situations, like eating out in public.
Our therapists at Handel Behavioral Health know that eating disorder therapy isn’t one-size-fits-all. Your therapist will work with you to develop a treatment plan that safely supports your needs and goals.
Goals of Eating Disorder Therapy May Involve:
Healing your relationship with food
- Learning mindfulness skills
- Reducing food-related anxiety
- Rebuilding trust with your body
Recognizing unhealthy habits
- Replacing compulsive behaviors
- Building healthier coping strategies
- Reducing obsessive thinking
Improving relationships
- Communication skills
- Setting healthy boundaries
- Strengthening support systems
Exploring underlying causes and co-occurring conditions:
- Trauma
- PTSD
- OCD
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Body dysmorphic disorder
- Perfectionism
- Low self-esteem and negative self image
Start Working With an Eating Disorder Therapist in Massachusetts:
Lasting recovery from an eating disorder is not easy, but it is possible for everyone.
If you’re struggling with an eating disorder and can’t seem to break the harsh thoughts and behaviors that accompany disordered eating, our team of trained therapists in Massachusetts is here for you.
HBH’s mental health professionals have worked with countless individuals of all ages, backgrounds, and identities struggling with their relationship with food and their body.
Our eating disorder therapists are here to help you develop healthier coping strategies, improve your relationship with food, and address the underlying emotional challenges contributing to disordered eating.
You deserve to reach a place of healing, connection, understanding, and growth.
To start working with one of our eating disorder therapists online in Massachusetts or in-person from our Amherst, Natick, Franklin, West Springfield, or Wilbraham offices, contact us today at (413) 343-4357 or request an appointment online.
Further Reading:
Narcissistic Abuse in Jennette McCurdy’s I’m Glad My Mom Died
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