New York Eating Disorder

EATING DISORDERS THERAPY IN NEW YORK WITH MARY DIORIO

Don’t let an eating disorder hold you back.

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If you feel like you’re eating to numb (rather than nourish) yourself, or if you feel an intense need to control your food or body, I can help you uncover and work through the emotional and psychological issues that are keeping you stuck. I work with both individuals and small groups, integrating psychotherapy with mindfulness practice and the principles of intuitive eating. I support clients in developing practical coping strategies and healthier eating and exercise patterns. Sessions take a body-positive approach incorporating such principles as: HAES (health at every size) Weight inclusivity Eating for well being Life-enhancing movement Achieving a full recovery is a complex process that requires both practical evidence-based strategies and integrated mental health care. I believe in bringing both depth and lightness to the process using a client-centered holistic approach for quick results that last.

I can help you overcome:

Therapies and techniques:

You didn’t choose to have an eating disorder, but you get to choose what happens next.

Treatment options include:

1:1 Online Therapy Sessions

Highly personalized therapy sessions scheduled at a time convenient for you in the privacy of your own home or office via virtual video sessions.

RO DBT SKILLS GROUP

For executives

Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy offers practical skills for managing emotional over-control and perfectionism.

holistic support

Certain combinations of symptoms can mean it makes sense to treat a client physically as well as psychologically. In these situations,
clients often respond best to a team approach that delivers 360° treatment. I’m able to draw on an awesome network of nutritionists,
sympathetic movement and exercise practitioners and primary care providers
, all working together for your recovery.

THERAPIES & PRACTICES TO OVERCOME EATING DISORDERS

Cognitive Behavioral
Therapy (CBT)

CBT brings awareness to negative food-related triggers, thoughts and behaviors. It helps clients create healthier patterns and perspectives, and offers practical strategies to overcome day-to-day challenges.

Emotion Focused
Therapy (EFT)

Eating disorders are often a result of painful suppressed emotions – an attempt to numb, soothe or avoid them. EFT helps clients develop better emotional regulation and self-care practices, so that they can resolve difficult emotions and improve their relationship with food.

Radically Open
Dialectical Behavior
Therapy (RO DBT)

Those suffering from eating disorders often deal with perfectionism and the excessive need to feel in control. Controlling their diet becomes their coping mechanism. RO DBT addresses emotional over-control, and helps clients enjoy more openness, flexibility, and social connectedness.

Mindfulness

Those grappling with eating disorders are often overwhelmed with their own negative thoughts. Mindfulness can help clients detach from these thoughts and impulses, and choose more positive responses and behaviors. Mindful eating can also help clients savor food in a more healthy, satisfying way.

Intuitive Eating

Intuitive Eating rejects the diet mentality and retrains us to eat when we’re hungry, and stop when we’re full. By teaching clients to tune in to their body’s signals (rather than external rules and triggers), it helps clients trust and honor their bodies, and establish a healthier relationship with food.

LIVING WITH AN EATING DISORDER IS DIFFICULT.

In part, because eating disorders are complex conditions, involving biological, psychological and societal elements. As the combined effect of these elements naturally varies from one individual to another, I offer highly personalized treatment to cater to an individual’s unique situation, and give them the best chance of full recovery. Here’s some more information on the conditions I typically treat:

Binge Eating Disorder (BED) – People with BED eat compulsively or for emotional comfort to the point of feeling out of control. A session of binge eating is often followed by feelings of shame, embarrassment, and harsh self-judgment. BED is the most common eating disorder in the US and often goes unrecognized and untreated. If you ignore signals of satiety and feel like you can’t control your compulsive eating, you may be suffering from BED.

Bulimia can be defined as a cycle of binge eating and self-induced purges, such as vomiting or over exercise. If left untreated, Bulimia eventually affects the digestive system, leading to nutritional deficiencies and chemical imbalances. This in turn can affect the major organs and even lead to cardiac arrest. Effective treatment helps prevent or reverse complications by establishing healthier eating patterns.

Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (NOS) There are many different ways in which a person can have a distressing relationship with food and not all fit neatly into categories. Symptoms of some eating disorders overlap with others and you may not be diagnosed with a clear-cut ED like anorexia or bulimia. Lacking a specific diagnosis does not make your eating disorder any less serious. If you have symptoms of disordered eating of any kind you should seek treatment.
Body Image Issues (BII) can cause a person to become completely preoccupied with the perceived negative aspects of their appearance. They may engage in constant body checking, finding it nearly impossible to pass by a mirror without examining one of their perceived flaws. Those who suffer from BII may be told numerous times by others that they are beautiful or that they look just fine but these words have little effect on the sufferer’s perception of themselves. BII often begins in adolescence and equally affects men and women.
Anorexia is characterized by a distorted view of body weight and shape and an intense fear of gaining weight. Individuals with anorexia may become obsessed with thinking about food, frequently skip meals or develop obsessive rituals around their food. They may binge and purge similar to those with bulimia. Anorexia affects more teenagers than adults and women more than men. An anorexic teen may try to hide their disorder by lying about already having eaten and attempting to hide their weight loss with bulky clothing. While most who suffer from anorexia are underweight, this disorder can affect people with bodies of any size.
Orthorexia while not yet formally recognized, is an eating disorder characterized by obsessive thoughts about healthy food. A person suffering from orthorexia will have established a “correct” and healthy diet for themselves and any deviation from their chosen diet is met with anxiety, panic, or judgment. A person with orthorexia may find themselves looking down on others for not eating as healthily as they do. They may avoid social situations in order to maintain control of the food they have available and may become panicked or distressed if there are no “healthy” options. Orthorexia may go unnoticed at first by friends or by the sufferer themselves since we don’t normally associate a healthy diet with a mental disorder but researchers have found that those with this condition share many of the same physiological and behavioral traits as those who suffer from more widely recognized eating disorders.
Exercise Addiction While regular exercise can be beneficial, a person can develop an addiction to the way it makes them feel, continuing to engage in intense workouts despite injuries, fatigue, and severe weight loss. Excercise addition is often accompanied by a preoccupation with weight, size, or body appearance. It can interfere with a person’s social life and may detract from normal self-care activities like rest, physical nourishment, and nurturing relationships.
Improve Your Relationship with Food If you don’t think you have an eating disorder but are still concerned about your relationship with food, a little therapy might be just the reset you need. Yo-yo dieting, food fear, and finding yourself thinking too much about food, are all signs that you might benefit from some support to help you tap into your intuition and reframe the way you think about nourishing your body.