Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is used in eating disorder treatment to help clients break patterns of disordered thoughts and behaviors.
Eating disorders alter how we think about food and our bodies, which changes how we behave around food. The cognitive behavioral therapy modality aims to rewire our thinking so that we can change our relationship with food. Ultimately, our feelings should no longer determine how we think about and feed ourselves.
Kindful Body therapist and CBT expert, Ashley Ellis, shares 3 CBT techniques you can use now for disordered eating.
1. Coping skills and relaxation techniques for Disordered Eating
Disordered eating is a way of coping with emotions, trauma, and other issues we haven’t addressed. In order to recover, we have to learn new coping skills and relaxation techniques to turn to instead. In cognitive behavioral therapy, clients practice replacing maladaptive behaviors (like restricting, bingeing, purging, etc.) with things that more directly address the problem or support them in delaying unwanted behaviors. For example, instead of binging when we are anxious, we try meditating or journaling to relax and gain insight into what is actually going on for us.
2. Cognitive restructuring for Disordered Eating
Harmful thoughts about food and ourselves become so ingrained in us that disrupting them can feel impossible. In CBT, cognitive restructuring, or changing the way that you think, is a process that takes time to internalize. Early on in eating disorder recovery, it is difficult to separate unhealthy thoughts from healthy, helpful thoughts about food. But by working with an eating disorder therapist and learning to nourish yourself with the help of a dietitian, you can start to identify unhealthy thoughts and see them for what they are– just thoughts, not truths.
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Once you can look at the thoughts and behaviors you are having/engaging in and identify what is unhealthy or not serving you, you can then look for and identify more adaptive thoughts and integrate those into your thinking. Some CBT techniques that help with cognitive restructuring are thought logs and thought stopping.
Keeping track of your thoughts in a journal can help you gain insight into the patterns in your thinking. It also allows you to “respond” to unhealthy thoughts with more helpful ones. Your therapist may ask you to use a thought log to write a dialogue between your eating disorder and your “healthy self.”
We can practice thought-stopping by pausing to address unhealthy thoughts before acting on them or falling into a spiral or thought loop. It helps to have a physical reminder for thought-stopping, like a rubber band on your wrist or even a small spray bottle full of water.
3. Hunger/fullness check-ins
When beginning eating disorder treatment, you may not have any hunger and fullness cues to rely on. You may have lost touch with these signals after ignoring the cues for so long and become unable to physically feel hunger or fullness. Even if you do have these bodily cues, it can be hard to learn to trust them again.
In eating disorder recovery, you can practice completing hunger and fullness check-ins with yourself before meals to gain insight into your physical and emotional hunger. Restoring these cues will allow you to learn to eat intuitively, without relying on external cues like diet guidelines or nutrition advice to tell you when and how much to eat.
When it comes to disordered eating, thoughts and feelings don’t have to rule over you!
Your thoughts and feelings don’t have to control how you treat your body. Eating disorder therapy can help you re-learn to nourish yourself based on what you need.
These are just 3 CBT techniques you can practice for disordered eating. Cognitive behavioral therapy encompasses a whole lot more, and your eating disorder therapist may incorporate other therapy modalities in your sessions as well.
When you’re ready, we are here to help you with your eating disorder recovery whether you need eating disorder treatment in Sacramento, San Jose, Oakland/Berkeley, Walnut Creek, San Mateo, Orange County, CA, or anywhere online in California.
Contact us to find out how we can help, and whether we’d be a good match to work together. We offer free 15-minute consultations to all new clients.
Other Services Kindful Body Offers
Kindful Body offers CBT eating disorder therapy to clients 14 and older across California, as well as support for low self-esteem issues, body image therapy, nutrition counseling, grief counseling, and relationship therapy. Additionally, we can help with relationship issues, trauma, emotional eating, nutrition counseling, and more. Schedule your consultation soon!
