Hannah Neely LMSW

When struggling with an eating disorder, it is not uncommon to have anxiety symptoms as well. In fact, anxiety often shows up before the symptoms of an eating disorder do. Anxiety disorders may include OCD, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Social Anxiety Disorder/Social phobia, and Panic Disorder. It is important to get treatment for anxiety along with the eating disorder and often in our work together we will talk about both.

Similarly to anxiety, depression occurs alongside eating disorders frequently. Feelings of low self-worth, lack of motivation, and appetite changes are all characteristic of depression, and may be linked to the way eating disorder symptoms play out. If symptoms of depression are present for you along with your eating disorder, we can definitely talk about that in our work together as well.

Eating disorders are a broad range of struggles with eating patterns that often develop from a combination of genetic, environmental, and temperamental factors. Eating disorders often stem from a combination of life stressors and thinking patterns related to stressors (i.e. perfectionism). Eating disorders can happen to anyone, and aren't something to be ashamed of. Unfortunately, eating disorders often exist in isolation. Letting someone walk with you will be a huge step in recovering.

I have used ACT in individual and group therapy, and have seen how it has helped clients move towards recovery and value-driven life. ACT concepts help with acceptance (of emotions, circumstances, and thoughts) and connection to what matters to you. Within an ACT framework, we might talk about your values (don't worry if you have no idea what they are or how to put them into words- totally normal!!) and practice some techniques to decrease some of the power your thoughts seem to have over you.

ACT helps us connect to the things that matter to us, as well as learn to accept our feelings and thoughts (without having to "obey" them all the time). Within an ACT framework, we might talk about your values (don't worry if you have no idea what they are- totally normal!!) and I will teach you some techniques to help decrease some of the "power" your thoughts can seem to have over you.

DBT teaches a wide range of skills, from mindfulness to distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. One of my favorite things about DBT is the emphasis on finding a grey-space - a middle ground - within our thoughts about ourselves and the world. We start to learn to see things more in the middle. This helps us treat ourselves more fairly and decrease the negative self-talk we so often hold.

CBT is one of the most utilized therapeutic approaches for dealing with our thinking patterns and decreasing behaviors that stem from unhelpful thoughts. Within CBT we might explore how your thoughts impact your feelings and then how that all ties in to your behaviors. We might talk about whether a thought is helpful or unhelpful, and how to decide. We will move away from being controlled by thoughts, and instead start to really inspect and challenge negative thought patterns.