Eating Disorder Treatment in Vancouver

The reasons why issues around eating started and continue are personal and specific, and accordingly the process of treatment is tailored and specific as well.

Having said that, there are some common elements found in most people’s treatment:

• Normalizing eating. A key part in getting better involves gradually loosening rigid rules, and increasing regular eating and variety. A common trap for people involves starting each day by eating as little as possible, inadvertently leading them to be vulnerable to making bad food choices late in the day because they feel deprived. The idea is that strict dieting makes things worse. Often, a dietitian with specialized experience in this area is extremely important.
• Reduce the importance of shape and weight. If you are weighing yourself multiple times a day, spending hours on dieting websites and blogs, it’s probably making it harder to get better.
• Building a life worth living. People who are recovered often talk of how having meaningful experiences (e.g., work, school, relationships, leisure) are critical to getting better.
• Triggers and coping. A big part of treatment consists of identifying triggers that lead to disordered eating behaviors. For many, anxiety, loneliness, and boredom are triggers. The next step involves learning new coping skills. Some well researched treatment approaches called cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), help people identify when they are distressed and give them the tools to cope differently.
• Working though the issues that make a person vulnerable to disordered eating. These include fear of rejection, poor self esteem, anxiety, perfectionism, depression, unresolved grief, avoiding painful emotions, and working through traumatic experiences. The issues can relate to the way we see ourselves, others, and challenges we have in relationships.