Eating Disorders

Finding balance. Healing the relationship with food, your body, and yourself.

Eating disorders are serious mental health conditions characterized by persistent disturbances in eating behaviors and associated thoughts and emotions. According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), they affect millions of people across ages, genders, and backgrounds.

Common types include:

  • Anorexia Nervosa: restrictive eating, intense fear of gaining weight, and distorted body image.

  • Bulimia Nervosa: episodes of bingeing followed by compensatory behaviors (vomiting, laxatives, excessive exercise) along with preoccupation with shape and weight.

  • Binge Eating Disorder (BED): recurrent binge eating without regular compensatory behaviors, leading to significant distress and possible health complications.

  • Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID): avoidance or restriction of food intake not driven by body image concern, often due to sensory issues, fear of choking/vomiting, or lack of interest in eating.

These disorders affect physical health, emotional well-being, and social functioning.

Therapy plays a crucial role in recovery. Professional treatment offers a safe space to explore eating behaviors, emotions, body image, identity, and deeper underlying issues. Evidence shows that tailored psychotherapies, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and family-based therapy, are among the most effective treatments.

Our therapist’s that specialize in family therapy is Adrianna.

What to expect in Therapy:

At Mindfully Active, our approach to eating disorder treatment is compassionate, collaborative, and rooted in understanding that every person’s relationship with food and their body is unique. Therapy provides a space to explore what your eating patterns may be communicating, uncover the emotions and experiences that shape them, and begin developing a more peaceful connection with yourself. Sessions often include working through both the physical and emotional aspects of recovery—such as recognizing hunger and fullness cues, identifying triggers for disordered behaviors, and challenging harsh inner thoughts around body image and control. We also explore the deeper layers of your story through approaches like somatic awareness, values-based work, and creative expression, helping you reconnect with your body’s wisdom and build self-compassion. Together, we’ll identify what’s working, what feels stuck, and the small, realistic steps that can support you in moving toward balance, nourishment, and self-acceptance. Our goal is to help you feel seen, supported, and capable of healing—without judgment and at a pace that feels safe for you.

Here’s a glimpse of What working with Adrianna may look like:

  • Building a supportive therapeutic relationship – A safe, non-judgmental environment where your experience is heard and validated.

  • Assessment and goal‐setting – We’ll look at your unique history, your current relationship with food/body, eating behaviors, emotional triggers, and life context. Then together we set realistic goals (for example, reducing binge-purge cycles, exploring body image, improving meal regularity, reclaiming pleasure in food).

  • Body-centered work (somatic therapy) – Since disordered eating often involves disconnection from bodily cues (hunger/fullness, emotions, sensation), we’ll gently reconnect with those signals, cultivate mindful awareness of how your body speaks, and develop compassionate responses rather than punitive ones.

  • Internal exploration (IFS and ACT) – We’ll explore parts of you (inner critics, protectors, much younger wounded selves) that may be driving the eating disorder patterns. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) will help clarify your values around body, health, relationship, and self-worth, and align actions accordingly.

  • Expressive arts & eco-therapy – We may use creative mediums (drawing, poetry, movement) or nature-based experiences to access parts of your story that words alone can’t reach—and to reconnect with vitality beyond food/weight.

  • Relational and systemic work – Since eating disorders often impact and are impacted by relationships (family, partner, peers, cultural messages), we’ll explore those dynamics. If relevant, we may incorporate relational frameworks (drawing on Gottman theory) to support healthy communication around food/body issues with loved ones.

  • Skill-building & recovery-oriented strategies – You’ll develop practical tools: regularizing meals, managing urges, coping with triggers (emotions, environment, social media), challenging distorted thoughts about body/food, building self-compassion, and creating a life aligned with deeper values.

  • Long-term maintenance & growth – As symptoms subside, we’ll shift toward sustaining recovery, preventing relapse, deepening your identity beyond the eating disorder, strengthening resilience, and expanding your sense of body and self beyond food and weight.

This blend of modalities, somatic, IFS, ACT, expressive arts, offers multiple pathways, so your plan is tailored to you rather than one-size-fits-all.

A few symptoms we treat:

  • Preoccupation with food, calories, weight, body shape, or “safe” vs. “forbidden” foods.

  • Restrictive eating, skipping meals, rigid eating rules, extreme dieting.

  • Binge-eating episodes (eating large amounts in short time with sense of loss of control).

  • Compensatory behaviors: purging (vomiting, laxatives), excessive exercise, fasting.

  • Emotional eating or eating to numb or soothe emotions (shame, anxiety, guilt, boredom).

  • Avoidance of food, narrow food repertoire, sensory aversions or fear of choking/ vomiting (typical in ARFID).

  • Distorted body image: strong fear of gaining weight; body dissatisfaction or body checking/avoidance.

  • Co-occurring mood or anxiety symptoms: depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive traits, perfectionism.

  • Social withdrawal, secrecy around eating behaviors, isolation or shame about food/body.

  • Physical symptoms or medical complications: fatigue, digestive issues, irregular menstruation, bone health concerns, etc.

  • Identity tied to eating disorder: the eating disorder “world” becoming central to one’s self-worth or daily routine.

Ways to sign up:

If you are in crisis, or believe your life may be at risk, please call 911 or go to your nearest emergency room. This page is informational and does not replace professional medical evaluation or treatment.