Disordered Eating

Disordered eating may look different for everyone. It can include:

• Frequently dieting or restricting food

• Skipping meals or going long periods without eating

• Feeling guilty or ashamed after eating

• Feeling out of control around food

• Eating in response to stress, boredom, loneliness, or difficult emotions

• Rigid food rules or labeling foods as “good” or “bad”

• Constantly thinking about food, calories, weight, or appearance

• Avoiding social situations because of concerns about food or body image

• Exercising primarily to compensate for eating

• Frequently checking your weight or body

• Feeling disconnected from hunger and fullness cues

• Using food to cope with difficult emotions

• Feeling that your self-worth is strongly connected to your weight or appearance

Sometimes disordered eating develops as a way of trying to create a sense of control, comfort, safety, or relief during stressful or emotionally difficult periods.

It is important to remember that disordered eating can affect people of all ages, genders, body sizes, and backgrounds. You do not have to “look sick” to deserve support.

How Can Therapy Help With Disordered Eating?

Therapy can provide a safe, nonjudgmental space to explore your relationship with food, your body, and your emotions.

Rather than focusing only on food or weight, therapy can help you understand the thoughts, emotions, experiences, and patterns that may be contributing to your relationship with eating.

In Therapy, You May Learn To:

Understand Your Relationship With Food
Explore where your beliefs about food, eating, weight, and body image came from and how they affect your daily life.

Identify Emotional Triggers
Recognize emotions, situations, or experiences that may influence eating behaviors.

Develop Healthier Coping Skills
Learn ways to manage stress, anxiety, loneliness, sadness, anger, or overwhelm without relying solely on food-related behaviors.

Challenge Negative Body Image
Explore harsh judgments about your body and develop a more balanced and compassionate perspective.

Reduce Food-Related Guilt and Shame
Work toward separating food choices from your sense of worth as a person.

Challenge Rigid Rules
Identify unrealistic or restrictive beliefs about food and explore greater flexibility.

Develop Self-Compassion
Learn to respond to yourself with understanding rather than criticism or shame.

Explore Underlying Issues
Examine how perfectionism, anxiety, relationships, trauma, stress, control, or major life changes may be connected to eating patterns.

Build a Healthier Relationship With Yourself
Work toward developing a sense of identity and self-worth that is not dependent on your weight, appearance, or eating behaviors.

Therapy Can Help You Move From:

“I can't trust myself around food.”
→ “I can learn to understand and respond to my needs with greater awareness.”

“I feel guilty whenever I eat.”
→ “Food is not something I need to earn or feel ashamed of.”

“My body determines my worth.”
→ “My worth is much greater than my appearance.”

“I use food to cope because I don't know what else to do.”
→ “I can develop additional ways to cope with difficult emotions.”

“I have to control everything I eat.”
→ “I can work toward greater flexibility and a healthier relationship with food.”

The Goal of Therapy

The goal of therapy is not to judge your eating habits, focus solely on weight, or tell you that you simply need more willpower.

Therapy can help you understand why certain patterns developed, what purpose they may be serving, and how to develop healthier ways of coping and relating to food and your body.

Recovery and change do not have to happen overnight. Small steps can lead to meaningful changes in how you relate to yourself, your body, and food.

You deserve support regardless of your body size, weight, or where you are in your journey.

Depending on your needs, therapy may be part of a larger treatment team that can include a physician, registered dietitian, or eating-disorder specialist. Additional support may be recommended when eating behaviors are affecting physical health or when a diagnosed eating disorder is present.