Body Image Counseling
Is an Unhealthy Relationship With Food Affecting Your Life?
When experiencing difficult feelings, do you seek comfort in food rather than actively solving the problems? Do you sometimes overeat even when you aren’t physically hungry? Perhaps this out-of-control feeling then leads to guilt and shame, forcing you to restrict your diet or exercise excessively. Are you obsessing over your weight or appearance and constantly comparing yourself to other people? Maybe you believe that life would be better if you could just lose a certain amount of weight or look a certain way. But after meeting your goal you still run into the same difficult feelings and challenges.
An unhealthy relationship with food and issues with body image can make you feel helpless and lonely.
It may prevent you from meeting someone special, building solid confidence or performing well at work.
You may feel misunderstood by friends and family who simplify your problem with comments like, “Why can’t you just eat normally?” or “Just stop thinking about it!”
Perhaps you have tried to change your eating habits, only to fall back to the same frustrating pattern—but, you’re ready to get unstuck.
Do you wish that you could find an experienced professional who could help you understand the root of this exhausting cycle—and most importantly, guide you to free yourself from it forever?
Many People Struggle With Body Image Issues
If you spend a tremendous amount of time thinking about your weight, appearance or food, you are not alone.
Looking back, you may have received criticism at some point of your life or been subjected to unhealthy behaviors around food in your family and friend groups.
You may have developed patterns of unrealistically restrictive diets, indulged in food to cope with boredom or numb feelings, turned down opportunities to socialize around food or eaten alone to avoid others noticing.
Maybe being surrounded by media or people that equate physical attractiveness with opportunity, success and social popularity has caused you to internalize the belief that fitting into a certain look or body type will help you feel better and more confident.
Whether you have been formally diagnosed with an eating disorder or you’ve just begin to notice concerning patterns in your exercise routine or relationship with food, therapy can help you create positive changes.
Body Image Counseling Can Help You Develop a Loving Relationship with Food and Your Body
My style to body image counseling:
I am empathic, supportive and engaging.
My approach to counseling integrates aspects of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), psychodynamic therapy and multicultural psychology, with a mindfulness focus.
My niche is providing culturally sensitive treatments to people of diverse backgrounds and helping them build a positive body image that is congruent with their cultural identity. You can read more about my work published in Clinical Case Studies.
What my practice offers:
Initial assessment to help clients decide what level of care they’d most benefit from.
Individual therapy for people who are dealing with binge eating, emotional eating and poor body image, or stepping down from a higher level of care.
As a body image specialist, I'll tailor our work to meet your particular challenges and goals. Together, we'll understand how family, personal experiences and culture shape your history with food and body image. We’ll explore how your eating habits manifest throughout the day and how they interfere with your life and work.
If you engage in emotional or compulsive eating, I can teach you concrete skills to help you deal with difficult emotions. I’ll help you learn from your feelings, and teach you useful strategies for coping with distress and developing self-compassion. I can introduce you to the concept of mindful eating, that when practiced can help you make choices about food that are loving and nourishing.
Throughout my clinical work for the past 10 years, I have witnessed the transformative power of relationships. During our time together, I’ll help you establish emotional support systems, establish healthy relationship boundaries and guide you to use communication skills to express your needs. I’ll help you develop a voice to your feelings, so you can communicate them and get what you need effectively without having to communicate through your disordered eating symptoms. We will work together to transform criticism to self-love.
I am considering body image counseling, but I still have a few concerns…
Do people actually like their body and the way they look?
We live in a society where unrealistic standards are constantly portrayed in media and create a sense of insecurity. However, it is possible to love your body and have an intuitive relationship with food. People who have a positive body image typically understand how culture or past experiences get in the way of developing body positivity and know how to move forward. Therapy can help you learn adequate skills, develop fulfilling relationships and build solid confidence—the essentials for combating issues with body image and appearance.
Will I be asked to change my eating habits immediately?
This is a very common concern when seeking body image counseling. I understand your relationship with food may feel like a safety blanket in your life. So, I will pace our process, working first on exploring how you developed these habits and finding new ways of meeting your needs. I aim to work from the inside out, focusing on core issues instead of chipping away at the problem externally. As you develop mindfulness and coping skills for dealing with your triggers, you can comfortably shift unhealthy behavioral patterns to create sustainable change.
I’ve been feeling so stuck. How will therapy help?
Many people with issues about their body and appearance feel trapped and have a hard time believing that changes are possible. Making matters worse, not having other tools to cope with difficult emotions and challenges also make you more vulnerable to emotional eating. Whatever your situation may be or how stuck you feel, therapy can provide a non-judgmental space for us to understand the root of your challenges, identify what’s been keeping you stuck and develop an actionable plan to make lasting changes. With your commitment to change and my expertise, we can work together to help you develop intuitive eating habits, enhance your body image and improve your overall quality of life.
You Can Have A Healthy and Happy Relationship with Food and Your Body
If you are struggling with body image issues and would like to stop the cycle of falling back to unhealthy eating habits, click on the button below to schedule a free 15-minute consultation with me. I’d be happy to answer any questions or concerns you may have about body image counseling or my practice in New York City.