I meet each client where she is in the moment. She may have little or no eating disorder recovery. She may have done a great deal of recovery work and is struggling more with life issues than eating issues.
Her concerns may be about eating or starving or excessive exercising. But she may be more concerned about her relationship or lack of one, her anxieties, her inability to function at work or at school than about the specifics of her eating disorder.
She may envision a life of freedom from her suffering or she may feel hopeless. She may not even imagine a future but live day to day certain that her eating disorder is a permanent aspect of her life.
Whatever her mental and emotional state may be, if she is in my consulting room she and I both know she wants to move toward health and freedom.
I will listen to her and give her the open and accepting attention she needs so she can feel free to share her genuine experience. This is often the first time she is able to come out from behind "look good" disguises and tell her truth.
I keep in mind what is best for my client as she is in the moment and make my therapeutic choices based on what will be most helpful and relevant to her right now.
Over the course of working with her I may use various methods of psychotherapy, depending on what she needs and what is most helpful.
Examples include: cognitive behavior therapy, psychoanalytic empathic listening, dream interpretation, writing exercises, art therapy, family systems thinking, right and left hemisphere work, mindfulness exercises and always caring and empathic listening.
We work together to bring her health, freedom, genuine satisfaction in life and healthy nourishing ways of caring for herself as she learns to function well and happily in a life that has no need for an eating disorder.
For more information see:
http://www.eatingdisorderrecovery.com
Los Angeles psychotherapist specializing in eating disorder recovery treatment.
Regular appointment hours: Tuesday through Friday, 7:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.