Ever been in a therapy session and had your therapist say things like “you look so healthy!” or “Have you tried to cut out sugar?” or “I’ve heard good things about Ozempic”? If you deal with an eating disorder, body image struggles, or you just want to escape diet culture in general, then you would have found comments like this extremely triggering.

Ever since the Covid (and in many ways because of Covid) eating disorder diagnoses are on the rise. In fact, they are now the 5th most common diagnoses in the world. Unfortunately, the therapy world has not yet caught up with this demand, which means that many clients are faced with feeling like their therapist doesn’t understand their struggles, or isn’t addressing the root issue.

Many clients are afraid of talking about their disordered eating behaviors to anyone, let alone a provider, because they are afraid of getting “in trouble” or being pushed to make changes before their ready, which can also lead to clients not looking into a therapist who is familiar with eating disorders and body dysmorphia and exploring more general therapy.

While any treatment is usually good treatment, you might find yourself feeling like the underlying causes of your disordered eating and body image aren’t being addressed. You might also find that you’re plateauing and no longer improving because of secretiveness with behaviors or your therapist doesn’t know what kinds of questions to ask. You might also find yourself feeling even more shameful of “weird” behaviors (like purging, binging, chewing and spitting, skipping meals, food rules, punishment behaviors, exercise dependence) because you need your therapist to lead the way on uncomfortable conversations like this.

If you feel yourself identifying with any of these scenarios, consider the following:

-Am I making enough progress without working on the eating disorder?

-Why am I afraid of talking about it in session and how can I ask my therapist to support me with this?

-What is my long term goal with therapy regarding self-esteem, food, and body image?

-How can push myself to bring up my food and body thoughts with my present therapist or my new therapist?

You’re not alone in your eating disorder. There are therapists out there who not only specialize in food trauma, but also have lived experience. Check out our providers here at True Self Therapy to see who might be a good fit for you!