You feel trapped in the unrelenting cycle of bingeing and purging.

You are feeling alone and out of control around food, and exhausted by you obsessive thoughts about your body. The anxiety and urgency to “get rid” of calories seems to rule your life. And, perhaps you are concerned about the harmful consequences of your food behaviors and/or overexercise on your physical health.

At Austin Center for Eating Disorders (ACED), we understand how frustrated and tired you are. Eating disorders can be invisible illnesses that thrive in secrecy and shame.

Bulimia, or any type of eating issue, can make you feel both invincible and worthless, and occurs across all body sizes.

We’re Here to Help

Perhaps you do have a deeper understanding of your reasons for extreme dieting. For example, you may feel overwhelmed by the urge to binge when you are triggered in particular ways, which then leads to the intense need to “get rid” of the food. Your eating disorder can feel like your best friend: the one thing you can depend on to “fix” your problems, for comfort, or self-esteem. It can even help you to rebel. Despite having this awareness, you are here because you’re ready to take the next step in your eating disorder recovery.

Contributing Factors in Bulimia and Eating Disorders

Suffering with an eating disorder is all-encompassing, and effects everything in your life— your relationships, your work or school, your body image and physical health, your emotions, your mental health, your capacity to pay attention, and your identity. Anxiety can skyrocket. Complicating matters is the ubiquitous cultural pressure to be thin and attractive based upon narrow and oppressive beauty standards. And, if exercise is wrapped up in your eating disorder, fitness/gym culture is even worse. These beauty and fitness standards are everywhere and convince all of us that if we want love, care, and respect in this world, we must conform (read: lose weight).

On top of all of this, we might guess that someone in your family also struggles with food, body image, and/or exercise. Eating disorders have a strong genetic component and tend to run in families. If you grew up in an environment of restrictive eating, body shame, and overexercise, you are more likely to struggle in these ways as an adult, especially if you have the genetic predisposition. We’re not here to blame your family, even though they may have accidentally contributed to the development of your eating disorder. Your parents’ parents likely passed these things down as well, and so goes the cyclical nature of trans-generational food and body image issues. That is, until someone finally heals it. We hope that person is you.

We often hear about the shaming doctors visits our clients endure as children and adults. Having a doctor tell you that there is something wrong with your body shape or weight as a child (or adult) can spur body image distress and disordered eating, and contribute to having an eating disorder later in life. We are doing everything we can to educate doctors about eating disorders and the harms of fat phobia in medical treatments. We want you to know that it’s not ok that you were shamed as a child, and told that your body was somehow defective.

Many People Struggle With Eating Disorders

No matter where you are in the process of recovery, you deserve to be heard and get support. Struggling with an eating disorder does not mean that you are inferior in any way, and you are certainly not alone. Eating disorders are treatable mental and physical disorders that affect people of every age, sex, ethnicity, gender, race, and socioeconomic group. National surveys estimate that 20 million women and 10 million men in the USA will, at some point in their lives, have an eating disorder. Learn about more statistics here.

Eating disorders can negatively affect every organ system throughout your body, and seeking professional help is important. The earlier you seek treatment, the greater the likelihood you have to fully recover physically, mentally, and emotionally. Oftentimes, full recovery from an eating disorder takes multiple attempts, and this is not your fault. We live in a culture that reinforces disordered eating and unrealistic beauty standards, which infinitely complicates the process of recovery.

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Let Us Help

With the help of a skilled, specialized therapist and/or dietitian, you can develop the insight and compassionate self-care needed to sustain the long journey of healing. We can provide the support you need:

• You will receive a personalized treatment plan that is highly specific and aligned with your unique needs and goals

• Tools and skills to manage and diminish eating disorder behaviors

• Support in developing insight and understanding in your relationships with food and your body, and about yourself in general

• Education about the science behind eating disorders and trauma

• Help learning to regulate and soothe your intense emotions

• Coping skills to advocate for yourself, especially when it comes to difficult relationships and diet culture

• Nutrition support, education, and guidance

• Tools and guidance in dismantling the restrictive food rules and obsessions that take over your life

• A meal plan, if necessary, with a specialized Registered Dietitian

• Inspiration, motivation, and accountability

• So much love and compassion

• See eating disorder treatment FAQs here

Bulimia Treatment Can Repair Your Relationship With Food and Body

Psychotherapy can be an extremely effective method to heal your relationship with food, your body, and your life. Treatment for Bulimia Nervosa, although complex and commonly long-term, can guide you toward developing insight into your dysfunctional patterns of thinking and coping by giving you the skills and space necessary for authentic growth.

Therapy can give you a refuge, a place where you can be vulnerable, and trust that you will be unconditionally accepted, respected, and loved. Working at your own pace, you can find your voice, reconcile unaddressed emotions, and summon the power and courage required to take charge of your life.

We will help you to learn about the science behind eating disorder behaviors if you desire this information, and help you understand how these behaviors harm more than help. Together, we will explore your unique history of relationships, food and body image, and any trauma to help you figure out how your eating disorder helps you. You’ll need to know this information so that we can find better ways of getting you what you need without your eating disorder, when you’re ready to let go. We’ll identify potential triggers for eating disorder behaviors, underlying activating emotions, and major stressors to clarify your needs.

Our Collaborative Approach Toward Eating Disorder Recovery

Depending on your symptoms and needs, we will refer you to a registered dietician and/or therapist specializing in eating disorders to assist us on our journey together. Working with a specialized dietitian can be very important, and we will collaborate to make sure that you are getting the best care possible.

We will also refer you to a specialized medical doctor to check in about your physical health. Again, we want to do our best make sure that you have everything you need to recover from your eating disorder.

Another option and recommendation we’ll likely provide is to join a therapy group that focuses on eating disorder recovery, so that you can connect with others who share your goals and struggles.

We’ll also look for other possible mental health concerns, such as anxiety, depression, or trauma, that may be complicating or intensifying your need to cope using eating disorder behaviors.

We utilize a number of therapeutic modalities to aid in your recovery process:

• Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

• Family Based Therapy (FBT)

• Emotion Focused Family Therapy (EFFT)

• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

• Psychodynamic Theory

• Feminist Theory

• Health at Every Size® and Intuitive Eating

• Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Parts Work

• Relational Cultural Theory

• Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT)

• Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)

We Cherish Your Autonomy

You and you alone (given that you are an adult) are in charge of your body. You make decisions based upon what you believe is best for you. We will have plenty of recommendations (see above) to aid your recovery process, and if your symptoms are more severe, we may be more directive in nature. However, you are always free to agree or disagree, to come and go as you please, and do what you believe is the best thing for you.

We believe that you must make your own decisions to get the most out of therapy, and we support you in doing so. We cannot make you do anything, and you simply will not change unless you want to. We unconditionally accept you for who you are, right now.

Help is available for Bulimia.

We’re here for you. Schedule a complimentary phone consultation to ask all of your questions, and see if we might be a good fit for you.