Eating disorders are isolating and confusing experiences. They can be deceptive and destructive, spurred by society’s unrealistic presentations of body image and weight. Eating disorders can feel like a trap and the harder you struggle to get out, the more you block yourself in.
Thriveworks in Toms River understands the suffocating nature of these disorders, but we also know the hope and healing that many people have experienced. You are not alone, and there is hope for recovery.
Our eating disorder therapists want to make it abundantly clear: struggling with an eating disorder is never a result of being weak, confused, or obsessed. An eating disorder is not a reflection of who you are or what your future will be. It’s a mixture of societal pressures, coping mechanisms, and unhealthy thinking patterns. Counseling with Toms River can help you cope with the first one and change the second two.
You might be fighting an eating disorder, but it is still only one part of you. You are not your eating disorder. Thriveworks in Toms River, NJ wants to help strengthen the parts of you that you love so together we can take your life back from eating disorders.
For more information or to schedule an appointment today, give us a call at 732-852-4977.
What Is an Eating Disorder?
Eating disorders are a nuanced and multifaceted mental health problem that will look differently for everyone. They exist on a spectrum- there is no such thing as being “bad enough” to reach out to a counselor for an eating disorder. It’s easy to think “well someone else has it worse!” This a lie eating disorders will tell you that will stop you from getting the help you deserve!
If you are struggling with eating habits, food, weight, calories, body image, or emotional eating, it’s always worth reaching out. It could help save you a lot of pain and heartache further down the road. Thriveworks Counseling in Toms River, NJ will meet you where you’re at, no judgement.
In general, professionals have divided eating disorders into three groups: anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder.
What Are the Symptoms of Anorexia?
Anorexia is the deadliest mental illness in the United States. It is an eating disorder that can become so low-calorie that vital organs begin to shut down. If you or someone you know is struggling with anorexia, please reach out. Toms River eating disorder therapists are here to help. If we aren’t the right person for you then we can help you find someone who is.
A few signs to look for in yourself or a loved one include:
- Underweight (BMI less than 18)
- Dramatic weight loss
- Restricting food
- Counting calories
- Unusual amounts of exercise
- A lot of thoughts focused on food, weight, or body shape
- Strong desires for a different size/shape
- Wearing baggy clothes to hide weight loss or body shape
Anorexia tries to convince you that you can’t be happy until you’re a few pounds lighter. It is a destructive mental illness that paradoxically wants to exist. This painful duality of destructive but feeling necessarily makes it even harder to reach out for help.
Toms River counseling understands, and we are here for you. Freedom from anorexia is possible.
What Are the Symptoms of Bulimia?
Bulimia shares many common traits with anorexia but is also its own separate beast. The binge-purge cycle of bulimia is what makes this eating disorder so exhausting, disheartening, and dangerous. It can feel like you’re running on a treadmill with no end in sight, just going going going until your body tells you to stop, except it never does.
Together with Thriveworks in Toms River, we can break the cycle.
Bulimia is comprised of two parts:
- The binge: an uncontrolled consumption of an unusually large amounts of food. It usually involved shame, fear of gaining weight, and guilt, yet feels impossible to stop. It is the catalyst for the later purge.
- The purge: any activity that is aimed at disposing of calories. Common examples are forced vomiting, diuretics, excessive exercise, or fasting.
From the outside looking in, people might see someone struggling with bulimia and tell them that they just need to be stronger. They just need to stop.
This is another huge lie. You are not weak. The nasty cycle of bulimia is not your fault. There are many factors that might be contributing to bulimia, and we can discuss them in depth during a session, but a personal flaw is never one of them.
Some signs of bulimia include:
- Having a binge episode (eating excessive amounts of food when the situation does not call for it, feeling out of control or like you can’t stop while eating.)
- Trying to counteract the binge by purging (vomiting, exercise, fasting, etc.)
- Being preoccupied with shape and body image, feeling shame or a desire to change
- Weight fluctuations
- Dehydration or other vitamin imbalances
There is hope if you are fighting bulimia. Thriveworks in Toms River is ready to fight with you.
What Are the Symptoms of Binge Eating Disorder?
Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is quickly becoming one of the most common mental health disorders. As stress ramps up, addictive foods are easier to find, and healthy coping mechanisms are too far and few between, BED finds a way to sneak in.
We keep saying it and we’ll say it again- struggling with an eating disorder does not make you weak! Bing eating disorder is no different.
With BED, it can feel like food is the only place you have to turn. You’ll come home from another long, unfulfilling day and your brain will tell you that you need food to be happy. So, you’ll eat, a lot, and then feel the shame and guilt of it in the morning.
No one deserves to live trapped in the brutal cycle of BED. Luckily, BED has one of the highest recovery rates for any mental health disorder. With Toms River eating disorder counseling, you can be well on your way to a healthy, fulfilling life.
If you think you or a loved one is struggling with binge eating disorder, look for these symptoms:
- Feeling depressed or anxious
- Disgusted at yourself, your habits, or your body
- Binge eating, oftentimes alone where no one can see you eat
- Feeling out of control when eating
- Embarrassed about eating patterns
- Continuously eating even after full (to the point of pain)
- Feeling a lack of emotions when eating
- Feeling like eating is the only way you can cope with high emotions
BED likes to tell us that we can’t be happy unless we’re eating. That’s a lie, and if you give us the chance, we can prove it.
Schedule an Appointment with Toms River Eating Disorder Counseling Today
The isolation, confusion, and health problems that come with eating disorders is something no one deserves to go through. Health and healing are possible. Thriveworks in Toms River understands that everything in you is probably saying don’t reach out, just a few pounds lighter, just one more bite.
The strength it has just to read this and think about reaching out is incredible. It is a testament to the future you can have- eating disorder free.
To get more information or to schedule an appointment, give us a call at 732-852-4977.
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