It may be time to reach out to a professional for eating disorder, if you or your child exhibit the following behaviors:

• Exhibiting an unhealthy obsession with food and dieting.

• Exhibiting an unhealthy obsession with one’s weight or body shape. This can take the form of behaviors like body checking.

• Withdrawing from social activities to avoid food.

• Unusual eating behaviors like odd food combinations, sudden food aversions or restrictions, eating slowly, eating large quantities of food in private or food hoarding.

• Noticeable changes in their mood, including greater irritability, mood swings, anxiety or depression.

• Sudden change in weight.

If you notice any of these behaviors, receive effective evidence-based care with the Smith Counseling Group. 

Typically the process of getting diagnosed with an eating disorder involves visiting your health care provider to rule out any medical explanations for changes in weight or eating habits, as well as a mental health evaluation.

During this mental health evaluation, the mental health provider will ask questions regarding the patient’s relationship with food and their body, and assess the patient’s behavior towards food, as well as other psychiatric symptoms that are often exhibited in individuals with eating disorders.

If you believe you or a loved one may be suffering from an eating disorder, take the first step towards treatment - reach out to the Smith Counseling Group to book an appointment for a mental health evaluation. 

For adults, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT-ED) has consistently led to positive outcomes for Bulimia Nervosa (BN) and Binge Eating Disorder (BED).

For children, Family Based Treatment has emerged as the only evidence based treatment that has held up to rigorous studies. It has become the gold standard for treating Anorexia Nervosa in young adolescents. It is also helpful for Avoidant and Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) and Bulimia Nervosa. 

The Smith Counseling Group is a collective of professionals who specialize in the treatment of eating disorders, as well as other co-morbidities, such as trauma and mood disorders.  We have gone through rigorous training regiments to become experts in the fields of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Eating Disorders (CBT-ED) and Family Based Treatment (FBT). 

Eating disorders can be hard to treat for many reasons:

• Losing weight typically results in positive feedback, which causes a higher resistance to treatment.

• Body dysmorphia warps the patient's perception of their own bodies, this can make it very difficult to convince them that they need treatment.

• Eating disorders are hard to notice at first glance so it is harder to tell that someone is struggling early on 

• Many treatments of eating disorders do not address the underlying reason as to why it began. The Smith Counseling Group offers evidence-based care which not only treats the eating disorder itself but also the underlying reasons.