Find An Eating Disorder Therapist in Foster City, CA.

You don't have to have to be emaciated or eating all the time to know you have a problem with eating. You might have a problem identifying what you need and your default way to self-soothe is controlling food intake or eating too much. The time to get help is when you notice your eating habits are not healthy. Get therapy to figure out what you are feeling and needing so you can take care of your eating habits in a healthy way and have control over your life again.

Even if a person with an eating disorder recognizes that their behavior is self-destructive, they often feel powerfulness to change it, because of the temporary relief that it brings. Seen, in this way, as a form of addiction, there is almost always an underlying relational component to the compulsive behavior. The problematic behavior is a very meaningful expression of some tension or conflict which has been internalized as a way of managing difficult feelings. Though we may employ specific behavioral strategies, my primary goal will be to help you identify and understand what your behavior is trying to communicate, and to resolve it so that you may have a healthy relationship to food.

Eating disorders is a very complicated and serious issue which mainly occurs with woman but a growing number of men are also confronting this. We are still learning as much as we can about eating disorders and the opportunities to effectively treat and overcome this challenge. Caring psychotherapy and counseling along with behavior and cognitive therapies are currently the effective approach to reversing and managing eating disorders. It has been discovered that personal body imaging and family as well as social group messages around food, body size and body image have made for pivotal influences in the emotional trauma around food and eating. Transformation is successful with counseling.

I help my clients to understand how their eating disorder symptoms are attempts to communicate internal conflicts and get unmet relational needs met in a safe way. I help them express these hidden struggles and conflicts and the emotions connected to them and get their emotional needs met so that they can learn to let go of these behaviors that are on longer serving them.

I have been working with people struggling with eating disorders since 2004. I was training in eating disorders during my private practice internship. After becoming licensed, I worked at two intensive outpatient eating disorder centers in the Bay area and worked with teens and adults with Anorexia, Bulimia, Binge Eating Disorder, Overeating, Body Dismorphia. I am passionate about working with eating disordered clients and treat these clients in my private practice offices.

Understanding and recovering from an eating disorder can be excruciating. The roots of this disease run deep and are supremely impactful, not just for the sufferer, but for family and friends. The powerful feelings of helplessness, anger, and fear felt by those who have suffered from an eating disorder or know someone who has can feel overwhelming. Many people hold common misconceptions about eating disorders. That lack of awareness can lead to further disconnection between those who suffer directly from an eating disorder and their loved ones. In our work together, we will work to understand what led to the eating disorder and help you to get your life back.

I have extensive experience helping clients heal from eating disorders including Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Binge Eating Disorder, ARFID, OSFED, as well as UFED. My approach focuses on helping clients establish missing resources and healthy coping strategies so that they can smoothly transition away from relying on Eating Disorder thought patterns and behaviors to manage life's difficulties. I also work with clients to heal the underlying wounds that led to the onset of the Eating Disorder; creating the foundation for lasting recovery. I believe that collaboration is essential and work closely with Registered Dietitians, Medical Doctors, and other vital members of my clients' teams.

Do you find yourself eating for no particular reason? Do you prefer to eat in private? Food carries with it many powerful symbols. It can be used to nurture, comfort, and strengthen. It can also be used to control, punish, shame as well as suppress our feelings. Like any other addiction, food can be used to disconnect us from our intuition and alienate us from ourselves and others. Therapy is an ideal place to explore issues and feelings around food.

I will look at the best approach for treating the eating disorder, based on your strengths, symptoms, severity and issues that are present. The effectiveness really does depends on being able to address the physical as well as the psychological aspects of your situation effectively. The aspects that will need to be addressed are nutritional needs, medical, a healthy relationship with food and to get to the root causes off life and its challenges and how to cope effectively and efficiently. The effective treatment tends to be a combination of therapy, nutritional assessment and counseling and support group. In some severe cases, residential treatment and or hospitalization has been effective

When someone is suffering with an eating disorder the best treatment will be a comprehensive program consisting of a medical evaluation, nutrition and exercise counseling, psychotherapy for the individual and perhaps the family as well, support groups and possibly a referral to a psychiatrist. The client may have access to all these through an inpatient treatment program or may be seeking to piece these together in outpatient treatment. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy has been shown to be an important part of effective treatment for eating disorders. CBT can help support the individual and the family in understanding the dynamics of an eating disorder and working to overcome it.

Eating disorders are pervasive in the United States and it is a misconception and cultural myth that women are the only people that suffer from them. I work with all genders struggling with eating disorders to understand their relationship to their bodies and the beliefs they hold about their bodies. At the onset of therapy, I will assess if immediate medical attention and/or hospitalization is necessary before talk therapy can begin.

We will look together at the onset and occurrence of the eating disorder, and discuss what you think might have contributed to it. I will ask you to journal for 10 min. first about what you are feeling and thinking whenever you have the impulse to the problem behavior for a week, whether you act on the impulse or not. Looking at the journal, we can begin to get into the triggering feelings at a deeper level. We can use EMDR, talking, body awareness and other techniques to get deeper into the feelings. Together we will come up with alternative ways to take care of those feelings, other than the eating disorder.

Eating should be one of life's pleasures but it can become a nightmare if you suffer from an eating disorder. If food has become your enemy or you find that you are obsessing about food and/or body issues almost constantly, I can work with you to relieve some of your suffering. By deeply listening to your history we can explore and make meaningful links between your past and present history generating a better understanding of your emotions, ideas, and behaviors around food, body, and mind. By increasing awareness we can open up space for something new to happen. My style is warm, empathic, and collaborative and I will work hard to help you create change!