EATING DISORDER THERAPY
Dissatisfied with your body?
☼ Do you spend hours scrolling on social media, comparing yourself to others, only to feel more dissatisfied with your body?
☼ Diets keep leading to more disappointment after the “honeymoon period” ends?
☼ Beating yourself up about eating a certain type of food or eating “too much?”
☼ Afraid of gaining weight?
☼ Worrying about what you’re going to eat on that trip, at dinner, or a party?
☼ Feeling shame about your body?
☼ Keep feeling “fat” and guilty after eating?
Diets often lure you in with promises of more happiness and a better life, but they don’t always live up to their promises. Sometimes, they can lead to anxiety and eating disorders. You might obsess about what you ate over the course of the day, tallying up calories, and worrying:
What if I ate too much?
Am I too big?
How am I going to fit in a workout tomorrow?
What if they judge me?
Why can’t I just follow this diet?
If you’ve been struggling with an eating disorder long enough, you might even start to hate your body and blame it for your problems. You might start to feel hopeless after a while. But, what if your body isn’t the problem? What if there were a way to feel accepted and loved—be happier—without shaming and blaming your body or obsessing about what you eat? We believe this is possible with specialized therapy for eating disorders that’s tailored to you from a psychologist in Southlake, Texas.
You’re not alone.
In our society, body dissatisfaction is common. We often get messages about what our body “should” and “shouldn’t” look like, and what we “should” and “shouldn’t” eat, from a young age. (A study shows young girls report being more afraid of becoming “fat” than being hit by a truck.) Negative body talk, media, and sometimes even well-meaning loved ones can pressure us to conform our bodies, rather than appreciate them and ourselves.
Criticism of our bodies and efforts to restrict what we eat can lead to unintended consequences, such as obsessing about food, social isolation, and medical complications. Research estimates that over 6% of females and 4% of males will have a diagnosable eating disorder at some point in their life. Read our list of common eating disorder symptoms to see if therapy might help you improve your relationship with food and your body.
Have A Question?
Common Symptoms of Eating Disorders:
☼ frequent weighing, mirror checking, or comparing to others on Instagram leads to more anxiety in the long term
☼ fear of gaining weight
☼ rules about food getting in the way of enjoying meals out
☼ feeling like you have to exercise
☼ thinking about food (a lot)
☼ changes in weight
☼ feelings of shame or guilt when diets don’t work
☼ vomiting (purging)
☼ not eating enough food (skipping meals, restriction)
☼ emotional eating
☼ binge eating
☼ taking diet pills or laxatives to try to lose weight
☼ feeling distress after eating large amounts of food
☼ how you feel about your body or your last meal has a strong influence on your self-worth
Freedom from an Eating Disorder is Possible
Negative body image and disordered eating fall on a continuum. We’re learning more and more about ways to effectively improve body image, manage eating concerns, and treat eating disorders through therapy. The sooner you get help from an experienced eating disorder therapist, the sooner you can start living a fuller life again.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Eating Disorders
We provide outpatient treatment for eating disorders and counseling for body image and emotional eating at TherLively in Southlake, Texas. Enhanced Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT-E, sometimes called Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Eating Disorders) has the most research support for treating several eating disorders in adults. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for eating concerns focuses on changing unhelpful thoughts and eating patterns. These changes can improve how you relate to food, your body, and yourself.
Outpatient Eating Disorder Treatment: How we can help
At TherLively, we take a personalized approach to helping you recover from eating concerns.
First, we get to know you. We also take the time to get a thorough understanding of the nature of your eating and body image concerns, so we can tailor therapy to your needs. We’ll teach you about common characteristics of eating problems and strategies to help you to overcome them. If needed, we’ll help you to regulate eating patterns and remove barriers to more food freedom. When appropriate, we’ll also guide you through exposures, because research suggests a personalized approach to CBT-E that incorporates exposure therapy might be even more effective in helping conquer fears related to eating.
Then, we can dig deeper to help you uncover root causes that might maintain unhealthy eating patterns. We might focus on challenging “perfectionism,” improving your self-esteem, or helping you regulate emotions. Depending on your customized plan for therapy, you might learn to appreciate your body, treat yourself with more compassion, or more adaptive ways to cope with emotions and uncomfortable situations.
While successful therapy for eating disorders tends to last longer than treatment for other concerns, freedom from an eating disorder is achievable. At TherLively, we believe full recovery is possible.
Common Eating Disorders We Help Adults Overcome:
☼ Binge Eating Disorder Therapy
☼ Atypical Anorexia Nervosa & Anorexia Nervosa Treatment
☼ Bulimia Nervosa Treatment
☼ Purging Disorder Therapy
☼ Avoidance Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) Therapy
Questions about Therapy for Eating Disorders:
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The idea, I’m not “sick enough” for therapy, often prevents people from getting the help they need sooner. Unfortunately, when eating disorders are untreated, they might become more severe.
Complications might become more likely. The best way to determine whether you would benefit from therapy or not is to meet with an eating disorder specialist to share with them what you’re experiencing. Then, they can share their opinion and recommendations with you, so you can make a more informed decision together.
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Therapy for eating disorders can be hard work. It can also be well worth it. People often don’t realize the full toll that an eating disorder can take on their body, relationships, and school/career until they’re on the other side of it. The sooner you start therapy, the less challenging it tends to be.
Another benefit of therapy is you don’t have to do the work alone. Your therapist will help you along the recovery process and work with you to move toward your goals.
Potential benefits of counseling for eating disorders:
At TherLively, we’re experienced in helping people overcome eating disorders, such as Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Binge Eating Disorder, and finding more freedom in their lives. People we’ve helped have also shared benefits of therapy they didn’t initially expect.
People who completed treatment for eating disorders have described:
☼ Enjoying going out to eat again
☼ Less anxiety about weight and eating
☼ More freedom in what they think about and less obsessing about food
☼ More time to invest in other pursuits, such as career, relationships, and enjoyment
☼ Less guilt and more happiness
☼ More security
☼ Improved academic/work performance
We Can Help
To learn more about our therapy process at TherLively, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions page. If you have any more questions about working with a specialist in recovery from eating disorders and eating issues, let us know by sending us a message on our contact page. If you’re ready to schedule your first meeting with your eating disorder therapist in Southlake, Texas, please complete the Therapy Interest Form by clicking the “Contact Us” button below to go to our Contact page.
