What is anorexia nervosa and what are its effects?
To start, anorexia is an eating disorder where a person believes that they need to starve themselves to stay “healthy.” Often times, children, teenagers, and adults with anorexia feel that their body must be changed to fit in. They have a distorted body image and a fear of being overweight. However, most people with anorexia nervosa are actually quite underweight and starve themselves every day. Overall, there is an attempt to stay as thin and as skinny as possible, which is combined with too much exercise. For example, someone with anorexia may go running every single day and continue to lose weight, but see themselves as overweight. A person’s perception of their body in this negative way can be lifelong. There is hope. Wisdom Within Counseling is a group of anorexia nervosa and eating disorder specialists in Connecticut.
How does a person end up with an abnormally low body weight?
Many times, anorexia develops over time. Sometimes, in childhood an adolescent years, teenagers develop disordered eating habits. At times, negative habits around food can include being on a fad diet, restricting certain food categories, skipping meals, and overall counting calories to be skinnier. People who do not receive the help may also develop obsessive compulsive disorder or self harming behaviors alongside anorexia. It is common for teenagers and adults with anorexia and disordered eating habits also have symptoms of depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, or cutting.
If you or your loved one is at an abnormally low body weight, they may be struggling with anorexia.
With anorexia, you may have a fear of gaining weight and need help building intuitive eating habits. People with anorexia know how to push away their body. So, with anorexia, a person teaches themselves how to push away and ignore hunger signals. So, working with a therapist who specializes in eating disorders and anorexia can help you and your loved one become more intuitive. And, therapy helps a person get more in tune with their hunger signals.
Over many months in years, a person with anorexia nervosa and an eating disorder develops an abnormally low body weight.
Doctors might not be aware of anorexia or how to treat it. A person with an abnormally low body way might be able to convince their doctor they don’t have an eating disorder if their doctor is not trained to look for one. Anorexia nervosa and eating disorder specialists in Connecticut at Wisdom Within Counseling are passionate about helping people overcome their eating disorder and build confidence.
Therapy at Wisdom Within Counseling in Connecticut can help a person with anorexia restore self compassion and gain weight while improving self-esteem.
What is food trauma?
Often times, our culture causes trauma around food from a young age. Sometimes, people develop food insecurities and binge eating habits develop. As well, there is a lot of trauma around believing that only certain foods that are “okay” or “healthy” to eat. There’s a lot of food trauma in our culture such as forcing children to eat. Maybe, as a child you remember your parents telling you that you couldn’t leave the dinner table unless you ate everything? And, these memories around food impact you as an adult. As well, if you grew up in poverty where there was scarcity around food, or you didn’t have enough food, this can lead to disordered eating habits.
How does same and guilt around food in our culture create eating disorders?
Our Americanized culture tells us that if we eat too much food we are shameful. And, culture tells us that if we eat the wrong food were shameful also. So, children are not taught how to use food as self-love or medicine. Children, teenagers, and adults develop fad dieting and disordered eating habits due to our culture and food trauma. At Wisdom Within Counseling, our team of eating disorder therapists teach self-care through food, self-compassion, and intuitive eating skills.
To begin, click the button below for a phone consult to work with a holistic anorexia nervosa and eating disorder specialist in Connecticut.
Not often are children taught how to have a loving, nurturing, and intuitive relationship with food. Therapy can help with this.
If you had a parent that used food as a reward or as praise, this can play a role in eating disorders. As well, we’re told to look outside of ourselves to know what to eat and what is good for us. A new fad diet and new diet calorie counting app comes out every day. Overall, anorexia nervosa and eating disorder specialists in Connecticut help you remember that your body knows what is good for you. Therapy helps you restore your natural intuition, spiritual connection, and inner wisdom. Often, people do not realize that eating intuitively can help them feel happier and calmer. At Wisdom Within Counseling, our team of therapists teach intuitive eating skills. In general, traumas involving food play a big role into eating disorders in adulthood.
How do you feel when you have anorexia?
Now, when you or your loved one has an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa, these are symptoms to look out for. First, a teenager or adult with anorexia may excitedly count calories and use their scale frequently. A person with anorexia might be weighing themselves every single morning or even multiple times throughout the day. To add, teenagers with anorexia are always double checking themselves and making sure they didn’t gain any weight. Therefore, having a treatment team of a registered dietitian alongside a therapist who specializes with anorexia can help a person heal. Notably, eating disorder therapist help people learn to realize these behaviors are self-sabotaging.
Have you or your loved one with anorexia withdrawn?
Often times, people with eating disorders isolate and withdraw. If your family is eating dinner together, a person with anorexia will often avoid meal times. A person with anorexia may isolate socially. Also, a person with anorexia will often skip meals and justify skipping meals because of gaining weight fears. If you have anorexia, you’ll probably be very tired all the time because your body has no fuel. You might also feel irritable, tired, frustrated, exhausted, or guilty. Sometimes, with anorexia, and person may have depression and feel very down.
How can anorexia nervosa and eating disorder specialists in Connecticut help with recovery and self-love tools?
Therapy at Wisdom Within Counseling in Connecticut can help give you an opportunity to find a joy in your relationship with food again. From therapy, you can learn to love, nurture, and accept your body. As well, holistic counseling helps incorporate gentle movement such as yoga and other positive coping tools. Overall, holistic stress outlets are helpful for dealing with your inner critic and obsessive thoughts. Often times, when a child or a young adult has anorexia nervosa or an eating disorder, family therapy is very helpful and beneficial. It’s very important for parents to encourage eating, be supportive, and help their child build a loving relationship with food.
How long does anorexia last?
Working with an eating disorder specialist in Connecticut means that you therapist has taken extensive training to work with eating disorders. Often times, general therapists do not understand how saying the wrong thing can make an eating disorder worse. Essentially, eating disorder therapists understand a variety of different types of disordered eating habits. And, we know disordered eating habits may develop out of trauma or stress. Many times, a doctor will just tell someone to lose weight if they are overweight and do not understand the emotional impact of this comment.
On the other hand, an eating disorder specialist helps people with anorexia, bulimia, pica, binge eating disorder, and obsessive compulsive disorders related to food learn how to live with joy and build a meaningful relationship with food.
In addition, eating disorder therapists in counselors offer compassion for those dealing with a disordered body image. The therapists at Wisdom Within Counseling provide holistic nutrition education and intuitive eating skills.
To begin, click the button below for a phone consult to work with a holistic anorexia nervosa and eating disorder specialist in Connecticut.
Frequently, with eating disorders, a therapist who specializes will offer a variety of different types of counseling as well. At Wisdom Within Counseling, we offer support for anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder through creative therapies. So, you can take part in music therapy, art therapy, drama therapy, or yoga therapy to build a healthy and loving relationship with your mind and body.
Your eating disorder specialist here can help you develop a connection to your mind, body, and spirit.
We find that a combination of talk counseling alongside holistic, expressive art therapies is effective for building a loving relationship with food and yourself. Wisdom Within Counseling in Connecticut works with children, adolescents, couples, and adults to help them learn how to love themselves. There are very few therapists that specialize with eating disorders such as anorexia, binge eating disorder, bulimia, pica, and obsessive compulsive disorder around food. At Wisdom Within Counseling and Coaching, we would love to support you in lowering anxiety and using food as medicine.
Why is there a need for anorexia nervosa and eating disorder specialists in Connecticut?
Now, lack of appetite is one of the challenges people suffering from anorexia nervosa have. Sometimes, people with poor appetites my go to foods that have empty calories such as chips or ice cream. Other times, poor appetite can be from hypothyroidism or a side effect of a medication such as a stimulant. So, to help you work with yourself in a loving way and deal with your lack of appetite, these are some tips. To start, focus on building a calming and soothing ritual into the time 30 minutes before you eat.
Sometimes, lack of appetite can be from feeling stressed out, anxious, or rushed.
Start by thinking about your meal time as what you do right before you eat. Know that if you get stressed out, watch an intense, scary movie, or are going through a relationship conflict, you might have less of an appetite. Make sure to do some thing calming before you eat to build a ritual around self-care. For instance, taking an Epson salt bath can help to reduce stress before eating. As well, doing some gentle yoga poses and a mindfulness mediation before eating can promote better appetite. If your appetite is decreased due to grief, loss, depression, or sadness, taking time to practice self-care can help to boost your energy. More so, make sure that your meal times are calm. People with eating disorders like anorexia nervosa tend to have less of an appetite, and tend to be underweight.
To begin, click the button below for a phone consult to work with a holistic anorexia nervosa and eating disorder specialist in Connecticut.
How can I make sure meal times are not stressful for a stronger appetite?
So, clear the mail off your kitchen table. This way you have a place to sit and relax to find pleasure and joy in your relationship with food again. As well, building up your appetite might mean inviting a friend over to cook your favorite recipe with you. Or, it might mean going out to a restaurant with a friend to socialize while eating. Remember, there are many causes due to lack of appetite.
What can you do about lack of appetite?
Work with a therapist who specializes with eating disorders as well as a registered dietitian who can help you with your nutritional intake and appetite. Sometimes, people with eating disorders combine strange foods together which can lead to decreased appetite too. Working with a nutritionist can help you understand food combinations and stressors that might make you feel uncomfortable. Your holistic therapist can teach you soothing, relaxing, positive self-care rituals that that can help with appetite.
How can family therapy help when a person obsesses about their weight and food?
Without treatment, eating disorders can last for years and be lifelong. Holistic family therapy at Wisdom Within Counseling supports anxious children, depressed teens, and adults. You and your family can learn to understand how diet culture plays a role in anorexia and eating disorders. Holistic therapy in Connecticut can help give parents a positive perspective and hopefulness. As well, family therapy can help parents have a positive role in helping their child in their eating disorder recovery. In addition, parents can learn how to reduce eating disordered behaviors and help their child restore weight in family therapy.
Anorexia nervosa and eating disorder specialists in Connecticut help with feeding OCD
If you or your loved one is obsessing about ways in food, working with a therapist can help you understand how much weight you have lost. You may feel obsessive about checking ingredients, or calorie counting. Your therapist can help you understand OCD around food and tools to feel calmer. Also, your anorexia nervosa and eating disorder specialist in Connecticut can help you process triggering events and child traumas that have played a role in your eating disorder development. In addition, your therapist can help you understand when eating disorder symptoms started and how they got more severe overtime. Eating disorders are a serious medical condition.
Remember, therapy is a place to step into intuitive eating, holistic self-care, and develop a nurturing relationship with yourself.
Transgender affirming therapy for eating disorders
We also specialize with transgender, gender questioning, queer, non-binary, and LGBTQ adolescents and adults who struggle with eating disorders. Many times, when a transgender person faces family rejection, their eating disorder behaviors and anorexia will increase. So, if you identify as non-binary or use they and them pronouns, we would love to help you explore your gender and sexuality while also building a healthy relationship with food. We are queer and LGBTQIA+ educated and affirming.
To begin, click the button below for a phone consult to work with a holistic anorexia nervosa and eating disorder specialist in Connecticut.
What is different about Wisdom Within Counseling?
The team at Wisdom Within Counseling in Niantic, Connecticut offer eating disorder treatment. You and your child can pick from art, painting, nature therapies, yoga therapies, and music therapies. Many times, traditional sitting doesn’t work. However, art and music therapies help provide a language beyond words. You don’t alway shave to talk about food struggles, fears, or pressure. For instance, your art therapies may ask you to paint it out. As well, using modeling clay or writing a song with your therapist can offer a language beyond just words.
Why does Wisdom Within Counseling offer creative, expressive arts in eating disorder therapy?
Talking only goes so far. Sometimes, you may not have the words to describe what you feel. Or, you may not be in the mood to talk. You can take your session outdoors in the sun and in the fresh air. Maybe, you want to try drama therapies or yoga therapies as part of lifelong coping tools. As well, you get creative, expressive drama therapies at Wisdom Within Counseling in Niantic, Connecticut. Drama therapy is amazing for learning to gain personal power and a voice again. Anytime, gel pens, art, yoga, painting, musical instruments, or mediations are available to you. Anorexia nervosa and eating disorder specialists in Connecticut offer a variety of holistic, unique, out-of-the-box therapies to promote self-compassion and emotional release.
When eating disorders go untreated, people do not recover naturally.
If you or your loved one is struggling with disordered eating habits, the condition can worsen very quickly without treatment. Especially, anorexia nervosa can be life-threatening and result in death. Someone who is struggling with decreased appetite needs immediate help. Working with one of the holistic therapists at Wisdom Within Counseling can help you if you are struggling with decreased appetite, and eating disorder, yo-yo dieting, or anorexia nervosa.
