I provide outpatient treatment for mild to moderate eating disorders and body image issues for all genders. I utilize an approach based on Dialectic Behavior Therapy and Psychodynamic theory. I can help you get a better understanding of not only how your issues with food and your body developed but how they persist in your current life. Working through these issues can be challenging and I will be there with you as you learn healthier ways of relating to your body and food.
Eating disorders and Body Image issues impact people on a physical and emotional level. They can impact all genders, ages, ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations, and body types. Eating disorders are caused by a variety of factors including beliefs about food and body image, family dynamics, trauma, genetics, personality factors, and other sociocultural factors.
The following information highlights the common eating disorders.
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized significant weight loss (or lack of appropriate weight gain in growing children); difficulties or refusal in maintaining an appropriate body weight for height, age, and stature; and, in many cases, unhealthy or unrealistic body image. People with anorexia restrict the number of calories and limit the types of food they eat in order to achieve their ideal body weight. Some people with the disorder also engage in compulsive exercise, purge via vomiting and laxatives, and/or binge eat. Anorexia Nervosa is potentially life-threatening.
Bulimia nervosa is a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder characterized by cycles of bingeing and compensatory behaviors such as self-induced vomiting designed to undo or compensate for the effects of binge eating. Individuals can also engage in purging through excessive exercise and the abuse of laxatives.
Binge eating disorder (BED) is a severe, life-threatening eating disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of eating large quantities of food that cause physical discomfort; a feeling of a loss of control during the binge; experiencing shame, distress or guilt afterward. Individuals with BED do not engage in compensatory purging behaviors. It is the most common eating disorder in the United States.
Orthorexia is defined as an obsession with eating foods considered “healthy” or “clean”. Although being aware of and concerned with the nutritional quality of the food you eat isn’t a problem in and of itself, people with orthorexia become consumed by maintaining “healthy” habits to the detriment of their health and functioning.
