Understanding societies misleading messages about beauty, thinness, or muscularity will help you to improve your negative body image. You will find that you don’t have to be “perfect” to feel good about yourself. Counseling can help you to see that you are of value, effective, and beautiful in your own unique way.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps you to become aware of the negative statements that you make to yourself and helps you to figure out where you first heard those things. You can begin to handle toxic situations and relationships and even learn to set boundaries by respectfully sharing with others how you “really” feel.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy will help you to regulate your emotions and teaches you how to self soothe.
Counseling encourages you to take care of “you” and teaches you how to improve your self-esteem. You will learn how to regulate and tolerate emotions like anxiety and depression; feelings that may have been overwhelming for you. You can then begin to replace old harmful habits with new healthier behaviors.
At first this may seem out of reach for you but change and growth happens in small baby steps. I know this because I developed an eating disorder at age 15. I worked with an excellent therapist who helped me to beat my eating disorder and now I help others to do the same. There is life after an eating disorder and I am proof of it.
I facilitate and eating disorder and body image group because it is very effective when treating an eating disorder. I also work with clients individually or with their families as eating disorders is a family system issue. Often loved ones will come to counseling to learn how to best support the eating disordered person.
If you think I may be able to help you or a loved one recover from an eating disorder, please feel free to call me. I would be happy to talk with you about your situation and answer any questions you may have.
You don’t have to do this alone…
Sincerely,
Ilissa Banhazl, Marriage and Family Therapist