Struggling with eating or body image?

In a society heavily saturated with diet culture ideology both in real-life interactions and online, it is not uncommon for individuals to feel discomfort, stress, or dissatisfaction related to how their bodies may look and feel. Whether disguised as a health boosting ‘diet’ or learned from influential people in our lives, disordered eating habits can sometimes become difficult to control and have detrimental effects on our health and wellbeing. If this dynamic is affecting your day-to-day life, it may be beneficial to explore your relationship with your body and with eating in a supportive therapeutic setting. 
 
The therapists at Playa Vista Counseling work intentionally to create a safe space for clients to take a second look at their behaviors. Clients are encouraged to explore the feelings and meaning behind their eating or exercising habits that at one time may have felt beneficial or protective. We understand how hard it can be to foster self-acceptance and self-compassion in a world that focuses on criticism. We also understand that our individual relationships with food are tied to much larger things, including our family history and any history of trauma we may have. With the use of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and other empirically backed treatment modalities, we do our best to provide helpful treatment tailored to each individual client.

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What is disordered eating?

Eating disorder symptoms include:

• Restriction of food intake relative to energy needs
• Intense fear of gaining weight
• Inaccurate or harsh view of one’s own body
• Periods of binge eating
• Inappropriate compensatory behaviors to prevent weight gain
• Self-evaluation that draws undue influence from body image, shape, or weight

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Eating disorders can present in several different forms including:​

• Bulimia Nervosa
• Binge-eating disorder
• Anorexia Nervosa
  • Restricting type
  • Binging-eating/purging type
• Other or unspecified eating disorders

How we treat Eating Disorders:

At Playa Vista Counseling, we used evidence-based therapeutic treatment modalities to treat eating disorders and disordered eating behaviors. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can be used to guide clients in understanding their urges and replacing harmful or maladaptive behaviors with safe replacement behaviors. This approach, combined with other tools used to address and process contexts that exacerbated the disordered eating behaviors, helps clients attune to their own needs and make their way down the path of recovery and healing.

CBT helps us to understand the way our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors influence each other. Other techniques that may be helpful to someone facing disordered eating may include grounding, mindfulness, relaxation techniques, and meditation in order to strengthen the client’s connection to themselves and lay the groundwork for self-compassion and acceptance. 

In some cases, diagnosed eating disorders require the need for additional support from professionals including medical doctors, psychiatrists, and registered dieticians. An important element of the treatment of disordered eating in a private practice setting is the acknowledgment from both parties that if symptoms warrant an increased level of care, the therapist will refer the client to the necessary care providers. Private practice, or outpatient, therapy is one level in a series of treatment settings designed to support clients in working their way towards recovery.

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