What Is Holistic Therapy For Eating Disorders?

Eating disorders are mental health conditions that often significantly affect an individual’s physical, psychological, and social well-being. They often involve unhealthy eating habits like binge eating or restrictive diets, which can lead to extreme weight gain or loss. While eating disorders can have serious impacts on an individual’s life, treatment can help to reduce those impacts.

Holistic therapy is one approach to treatment that addresses the whole person instead of focusing on treating the symptoms of conditions like eating disorders. It incorporates several therapeutic techniques to help individuals learn healthier ways of relating to food, their bodies, and themselves to create lasting change. Through these techniques, holistic therapy for eating disorders can have lasting benefits for many people.

Understanding eating disorders

Understanding eating disorders involves recognizing that they are complex mental health conditions characterized by disordered eating behaviors and distorted body image. Here are some common eating disorders: 

• Binge eating disorder: Binge eating is a common symptom in several eating disorders, including binge eating disorder, where individuals consume large amounts of food in a short period and feel a lack of control over their eating. 

• Anorexia nervosa: Anorexia is an eating disorder characterized by severe restriction of food intake, often leading to dangerously low body weight, driven by an intense fear of gaining weight and a distorted perception of body image.

• Bulimia nervosa: Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating followed by compensatory behaviors such as self-induced vomiting, excessive exercise, or the misuse of laxatives or diuretics to prevent weight gain.

What is holistic eating disorder treatment?

Rather than solely treating the physical symptoms of an eating disorder, holistic therapy considers each person's unique circumstances and experiences. Holistic therapists work with clients to understand the root causes of their eating disorders, such as past trauma, anxiety, self-image, or self-esteem challenges. They may then help develop personalized treatment plans.

If you are experiencing trauma, support is available. Please see our Get Help Now page for more resources.

Another reason a holistic approach may be effective for eating disorder treatment is that it promotes self-care and self-love. Many people with eating disorders might have feelings of shame, guilt, and self-hatred. Holistic therapy often encourages clients to develop a more compassionate and loving relationship with themselves.

However, holistic therapy approaches do not always shun traditional approaches. Most holistic therapy strategies involve a specially designed combination of traditional therapeutic interventions and alternative strategies based on the needs of the individual. 

The core principles of holistic treatment approaches for eating disorders often include:

• People are treated as individuals with unique treatment needs.

• Treatments are usually designed to find and address the root cause of the eating disorder, not only the symptoms.

• Individuals and treatment providers often work together to achieve long-term healing and growth.

• Healing may require a combination of traditional cognitive-behavioral approaches and body-based therapies.

Common holistic therapy treatment strategies

While not all holistic therapy treatment plans look the same, therapists often employ strategies such as those below to help patients manage symptoms and develop a healthier body image.

Mindfulness training

Mindfulness practices like yoga and meditation can be beneficial for individuals with eating disorders because they promote awareness and reduce stress. When an individual is experiencing elevated levels of stress, food-related behaviors such as bingeing or fasting may be exacerbated. Mindfulness practices can help them become more aware of their thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations and develop mindful, more sustainable eating habits as a result.

Research has shown that while diet and exercise adjustments are often effective in helping individuals achieve a healthy bodyweight, those physical changes may not last in the long-term. This is often because treatment focused on physical changes alone may not fully address underlying factors that cause unhealthy eating patterns. Conversely, mindfulness-based practices, combined with other therapeutic interventions, may help individuals experience long-term healing.

Biofeedback therapy

Biofeedback therapy involves measuring physiological responses like heart rate variability and skin conductance to provide an individual with feedback about these responses. This type of therapy may help the individual become more aware of the physiological responses that accompany stress and anxiety so they can develop techniques to manage these responses. Being aware of the physical state of the body can also help individuals visualize the progress they have made over time, which may improve motivation and feelings of self-confidence.

Art therapy

Art therapy involves the use of art materials and processes to explore and express emotions, thoughts, and conflicts. Art therapy may help the individual develop greater self-awareness and self-expression, which is often important for those with eating disorders who may have difficulty identifying and expressing their emotions. When individuals engage in art or various forms of expression alongside traditional talk therapy, it may help to reduce symptoms of mental health conditions and make it easier for patients to open up about their true feelings.

Nutritional counseling

Nutritional counseling is often an essential component of holistic therapy for eating disorders. This type of counseling can help the individual develop a balanced and healthy relationship with food, learn about proper nutrition, and identify triggers that may lead to disordered eating behaviors. Nutritional counseling may offer important education regarding food and help individuals re-learn the role of food and nutrition in their lives.

What causes eating disorders?

Eating disorders are complex mental health conditions that can significantly impact people's lives. These disorders often involve irregular eating behaviors, such as severe restrictions on food intake, binge eating episodes, and purging behaviors. Eating disorders can affect people of all ages, genders, and cultural backgrounds.

Eating disorders are often characterized as co-occurring disorders, meaning they often occur simultaneously in individuals who are experiencing other mental health conditions. In one study, researchers found that over 90% of individuals with an eating disorder were found to have at least one co-occurring mental health condition. While there is usually no specific cause for eating disorders, it is thought that a combination of mental health conditions, environmental factors, lack of proper nutrition education, and habitual behavior can lead to their onset. 

Online therapy for eating disorders 

One of the benefits of holistic therapy is that it may include online therapy to provide an efficient and comprehensive approach to eating disorder treatment. Online therapy has been shown to be just as effective as traditional in-person therapy, and it often offers the added benefits of convenience and affordability. 

Online therapy sessions can sometimes be combined with nutrition counseling and other holistic treatments, potentially making it easier to get the support you need without having to leave your home. For people with busy schedules or those who live in remote areas, online therapy may make holistic treatment more effective.