Anorexia

Anorexia or “Anorexia Nervosa” is an eating disorder most often characterized by a low body weight relative to an individual’s personal history. A person struggling with Anorexia will likely have a fear of gaining weight, which they often “treat” through food restriction. Ongoing restriction in food intake can lead to severe medical complications such as malnutrition and death.

Atypical Anorexia is the diagnostic term for those who also engage in severe, restrictive eating behaviors and have an extreme fear of gaining weight - however, they do not present with significantly or dangerously low body weight. This is the most common type of Anorexia, and can often be dismissed or overlooked due to misconceptions about body size and weight stigma. Atypical Anorexia has the same medical and psychological consequences associated with Anorexia.

Explore common social, mental, and physical symptoms of Anorexia below. Please know that all people and eating disorders are unique, so you may observe many or none of these behaviors.

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Common Anorexia Symptoms

  • Distorted beliefs about body shape and size

  • Severely restricting food intake

  • Fear of gaining weight

  • Avoiding mealtimes or food-centered scenarios

  • Denial of hunger

  • Social withdraw and fear of eating in public

  • Dishonesty around food intake

  • Insomnia and irritability

  • Deteriorating skin, teeth, nails, and hair

How can we help?

Our team at Empowered will help you heal your relationship with food and your body, working with you to explore and challenge rules and myths around food and bodyweight. While we help you build coping skills to manage anxiety, obsessive thoughts, and perfectionism, you will also work with a dietitian to provide guidance on achieving and maintaining nutritional stabilization. EmpowerED can also help with enhancing self-advocacy skills for dealing with weight bias and stigma as you move forward with your healing. Our goal is to help you reintegrate back into the world with a sense of body-neutrality, along with all of the necessary skills to move forward with passion and purpose.

Why Choose Empowered?

  • "Real world" programming & mindset

    Our program focuses on helping you thrive in the world and at home, not just during controlled programming hours. By having clients prepare and bring their own food, we are able to observe and guide your actual food selections and patterns.

  • Locally-owned and operated

    Our program locally family-owned and operated, with clinicians, admissions, billing, operations, and marketing in-house. We pride ourselves on maintaining alignment between clinical integrity and the client experience.

  • Inclusive & collaborative

    Our team is committed to helping those suffering from eating disorders, regardless of whether or not Empowered is the perfect fit. We are also flexible in the sense that we can collaborate with and support cultural foods and traditions, vegetarianism, and faith-based eating.

  • Trauma-forward

    We have designed our program around the assumption that trauma is part of most adult eating disorder presentations. We address this from intake on through our groups, individual therapy, and culture.

  • Adult-only programming

    With adult-only programming we are able to have open and direct conversations about the realities of living with an eating disorder. Groups can dive in to work, parenting and co-parenting, relationships and divorce, sex, finances, and long-standing and complex trauma.

  • Complexity-ready

    We understand that underlying traumas and attachment wounds often contribute to the development of eating disorders, and that the disorder itself is an active and on-going trauma. Our programming is built to thoughtfully treat co-occurring mental health disorders, along with a transparent plan on when we may need to refer out.