IF YOU NEED IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE PLEASE CONTACT THE HOTLINE:
www.nationaleatingdisorders.org
Most people think Eating disorder therapists are just like any other therapist……..They are there to guide you on your journey and help you reach your goals.
But the question is…….Can they really help you?
In this article you’ll find what you need to know about eating disorder therapists.
and what they can and CANT do for you.
Note: In this article I take you on my journey. Researching the small but surprisingly lucrative food coaching industry. Which you might find surprising……..and a little shifty. I was definitely surprised at what I found.
In this article. (Table of contents) –
- Enraging Scams
- Where to find a good therapist
- What You Should Expect to Pay
- Mind Blowing Treatment Procedures – and What to Expect
- You Should Try these Weird Meditation Techniques – (They actually do help stopping cravings)
- The Gut Wrenching Story of Near Death from Anorexia – and the therapists who saved her
- Alternatives to eating disorder therapy
- Conclusion:
-ENRAGING SCAMS-
The surprises started here. I started my research with of course, Google. And BAM. I am OVERLOADED with information on bad therapists. So many angry and hurt people.(Honestly I knew that there would be some sort of surprises along the way……. and even though there are a lot of scam artists out there….. I just didn’t expect that to be the first thing I ran into.)
This is NOT what I expected. I expected maybe SOME upset people, but NOT as many as I found. But maybe……..maybe I should’ve expected this? Because the whole reason I decided to do this research, was actually BECAUSE of skeptical people in forums online……..fist fighting with words about these coaches. Keyboard. Warriors. At first I thought maybe this was just the Internet doing with the Internet does best……. be cynical. But I was wrong. These guys were right. Some of these coaches…….were really bad. I hate to use the word scam, but that’s exactly how I feel some of these coaches are. They are just scam artist, and not really interested at all in helping people with their disorders.
So what were the people in the forums saying? They were saying all sorts of things…….The main one being that most of these coaches were just people who not only did not really understand their customer………. but that they were basically just taking advantage of people with this addiction. Almost as if some of them were trying to keep their clients from ever truly beating their addiction.
Now, I don’t actually think that these people were THAT malicious. I don’t believe that and also could not find any evidence, that Any coaches or trying to keep people addicted. BUT….
I found quite a few of these coaches were just absolutely 100% unqualified.
I even personally emailed one to ask if he used any basic therapeutic techniques, and he didn’t even seem to know even basic psychological terms like CBT or DBT. Much less be able to practice these.
Forget any formal education, because I understand that you don’t have to be formally educated in order to be a good coach……what I personally believe is that you just need to be an expert or close to one in order to be a coach. You don’t HAVE to go to college to be an expert….even though I’d like for you to have gone. But I can settle for someone who’s been doing a serious amount of research if they really seem like they’ve done their homework.
But I’m telling you…….
Some of these people weren’t just not formally educated, but were definitely NOT experts……not even close.
There were a few that it simply taken one or two courses and decided that was good enough.
I know some people are going to comment on this and say I’m crazy, and it’s totally acceptable to take a course or two and then become a coach…… I strongly disagree. If that’s the only value they bring to the table……well then I’d rather just go take the course myself. Save a big chunk of change in the process.
On top of this, there were even coaches who had never struggled with it personally.
Personally I just don’t see how you could be a coach and have never struggled with addiction before. I’m not saying that it’s in possible, but what I’m definitely saying is that paired with only taking a course or two…….. I really just don’t see how you feel qualified to truly help someone with their struggle.
Note: I decided purposefully not to add any names. At the risk of Legal action against me.
Note: To avoid being taken advantage of, simply do your research before choosing your coach. There are a lot of people who get taken advantage of and it’s very easy to avoid I simply asking them The right questions and doing your due diligence. Once you’ve paid it’s hard to get your money back!
-Where to find a good therapist-
Finding a good therapist is not hard. Even though there are many out there who aren’t very good, it’s easy to tell who can actually help you. The only exception to this are if you have a rare eating disorder. Such as Anorexia Athletica (Constant over exercising) or Night eating syndrome (self-explanatory) or something similar.
If you’re looking to find one quickly I definitely suggest checking out one of these sites:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/eating-disorders
But, I urge you to try and stay away from simply just picking from a website and then going with your gut.
When looking up a therapist follow these steps:
Start by making a list: You’re going to make a list of all the therapists you think might be good, and then later……we’ll cut them down until there’s a clear winner. Go search online for all therapists you can find that at first glance seem like you’d want to work with.
Cut out therapists with bad reviews: This is a simple and easy step. One or two bad reviews can be okay, sometimes people are just crazy and can’t be made happy no matter what. Remember, therapists are people to. They can make mistakes.
Narrow down further by their personality: this might not seem as important as other steps, this is the most crucial and important step. You are going to meet someone who you can really feel comfortable with. Make sure that the person seems like someone you would actually like to talk to and hang out with. You really don’t want someone who you’re going to feel nervous around because then you can never get anywhere together until that nervous barrier is broken.
Finally, CALL The rest of the therapist on the list- I know this is hard but if you’re really really interested in finding the best person for you this is really the best step you can take. Again, I have to stress that you really need to feel comfortable with the person you are working with. If you don’t you’ll quickly get frustrated because you’ll be paying money for some thing that won’t be going as smoothly as you might’ve hoped. Personally, I remember when I was younger my mother signed me up for a therapist and I don’t think we ever had even one actual conversation about my issues because we just didn’t get along. I really don’t want this to happen to you so please take this advice.
-What you should expect to pay-
Generally you’re looking around 75$ to 200$ per hour. (some go absolutely insanely higher if they consider themselves to be world-class especially) .
Some go on a pay-scale which means they look at how much you earn and base how much you earn on how much they charge. Most of these will have a minimum however, so if you don’t make anything they won’t do it for almost free.
If you choose to get a therapist at a treatment center prices can become absolutely astronomical. Some of these places literally charge a couple thousand dollars per day……..and that’s not an exaggeration.
Prices can also depend upon your area as well for instance in more affluent areas like New York City many of the better therapist happen to cost more money. This makes sense considering the cost of living in these areas is much higher.
Make sure to be aware of the price of your therapist before scheduling a session or getting serious about a specific therapist, sometimes they charge a lot more than you’d expect.
Also, ask about hidden fees and make sure that there aren’t any. Sometimes there are, and most of them are reasonable (for instance some will charge if you are late to a session) but some of them are definitely not. Make sure to ask so you can get a better idea of the full picture of the price.
-Mind Blowing Treatment Procedures – and What to Expect-
After digging through a lot of reviews and talking to people about their experiences……. I decided to see what was a part of all these different treatments, if you think that these therapist only do basic forms of treatment like one on one counseling……. well you’d be right, except many of these Therapist go way way beyond that.
Some of the more interesting treatments include (treatments here) but these three (state the three) really stood out.
EMDR (Eye movement den sensitization and reprocessing) – This he is one of the stranger treatments out there, however it is backed by science and it has worked for some people…….. so as skeptical as I am……. i can’t deny the results. So what is it? Basically there is an eight step process (for some therapists there are less or more steps, but usually 8) where they try to re-create what your brain does during REM sleep. If you didn’t know Rem sleep is a part of the sleep cycle where your eyes start moving back-and-forth rapidly from left to right. When this happens your brain starts processing the events from that day. To re-create this type of therapy, therapist will do just about anything to make your eyes move back-and-forth. They do this while taking the traumatic spirit answers you’ve been through and reframing them more positively. They don’t get rid of the experience, but they change how you feel about it. Now you might be saying, “ hold on I’m going to treatment for my eating disorder what does trauma have to do with that?” There are a variety of reasons, but it seems to me the most common one is that binge eating or other eating disorders are sometimes triggered by these events. If we can make these events less traumatizing your chances of getting through your disorder becomes much higher.
Hypnotherapy (hypnotist) – Yes, this is a real thing……however it is not at all like the movies. Well, a little bit….but not much. So…….does it work? The answer is yes, for some people. How it works: Basically you’re put into a hypnotic state where you are more open to suggestion
Meditation – for some people you might not be you this is very strange, however when I first heard this would help me with my binge eating I really thought that there was just no way. But then I went down the rabbit hole…… Learning about all the different types of meditation, everything from transcendental to Zen. Then as I dive in deeper, I realized how many people this really helped and decided to try it. I have to say that mindfulness meditation and Zen meditation has helped me the most. Being able to see my cravings as just thoughts passing bye has been able to drastically help the need I feel to sometimes binge eat. I really hope that if you’re reading this and you have a problem, please don’t hesitate to try and see if this works for you. It really could help you out. At times it may not work as well as others, but it is still very useful.
You Should Try these Weird Meditation Techniques (They actually do work stopping cravings) –
Note: This section is directed at people with binge eating disorder. Even though it can help those with other disorders as well. It is my personal experience that I have struggled with binge eating disorder. This is why I am writing this section from this perspective.
If you’re like me sometimes you will have a burning desire inside to just eat everything. These thoughts make no sense and as we fight them for some reason they just seem to go stronger and stronger. The more you tell yourself now the more you want to do it.
I covered this slightly before, but I wanted to go into a little more detail since these techniques actually do work well for me personally. I’m honestly surprised because I’m not usually into these types of techniques but they definitely do have their merit.
If you’re interested in coming down a craving to binge eat or any other type of issue concerning eating disorders these can help pretty well.
For those of you that are skeptical, why not try it? You have nothing to lose if they don’t work and quite a bit to gain.
Note: Zen meditation can be powerful. You’re literally feel like your cravings have just melted away and no longer exist sometimes. You can’t even get them back if you try. I know this sounds utterly insane, but you should really try it just this once. Watch the video below if you’d like to try the meditation type (Zen).
This is a really good craving meditation. You can choose a different one if you want, but this one is a personal favorite. I think you’ll like it.
The Gut Wrenching story of Anorexia – and the therapists who helped her
When it comes to anorexia you might not think of death, you might not consider that a possibility for anorexics……. but that is definitely the case for many. Even in the process of what is known as re-feeding (when people start to eat normally after anorexia) you can easily make fatal mistakes. Please take your eating disorder very seriously, everyone deserves a chance to live and be at peace.
In the case of (State name here) her eating disorder had progressed unfortunately to a place not only up to spare but potentially could fall for fatal. Her story is absolutely inspiring and the therapist who helped are some of the best out there. Read the full story here:
-The weird meditation practices some claim help-
When researching many of the different therapist and therapy methods out there you come across many of the same ones over and over ones like CBT and DBT, and various forms of those as well. But surprisingly there was one that seemed unorthodox to me that popped up quite often and that was meditation. Not just meditation, specific forms of meditation like Zen and mindfulness. The benefits you can get from the years are honestly surprising, I really did not expect for them to be as powerful as they are. Especially Zen meditation. Zen meditation techniques basically allow you to see thoughts and cravings just ass thoughts passing on by and instead of attaching to these thoughts as your own you disengage from them and see them as thought you were having but not necessarily your truth as weird as it sounds.
-Alternatives to eating disorder therapist-
There are some great alternatives to eating disorder therapist, if you look around a little bit online.
Mini include courses, books, and even therapist that aren’t necessarily meant for eating disorders.
Sometimes, just going to therapy for other reasons can lead to solving A deeper problem that’s actually causing the issue. For example when I used to binge eat it had a lot to do with depression. Same with bulimia for me. Everyone is different however, so this may not be for you.
There are some incredible courses and books out there, that have been proven to help many people with their eating disorders.
Here are some bucks but I highly suggest you take a look at
I don’t have very many recommendations for courses, because I like books better (they’re cheaper!) but here are some courses as well that look like they’re doing a fantastic job for many people out
Conclusion:
If you’re looking for a good eating disorder therapist, just make sure to do your research before hand. make sure that they are reputable, and have some degree of experience. Again, like I said before………. there are programs out there that claim after a week long course, that you qualify to be an eating disorder therapist. Watch out for the people who have simply taken this course or another similar course and really don’t have very much experience. Just like anything you have to do your due diligence in order to get the most for your money. I really really hope that if you have read this article, do you understand that you need to be extra careful choosing your therapist. I really don’t want anyone to end up being screwed over.
Thank you so much for reading, especially if you’re a loyal subscriber I appreciate all of you and would really appreciate any feedback you have for me on this blog post or any of them.
If you are interested in subscribing sign up here!
Thanks again!