3 Vital Things an Eating Disorder Therapist Wants You to Know

If you’re searching for eating disorder therapy, especially during pregnancy or postpartum, you may be wondering:

• Why didn’t talk therapy fully help?

• Why do I still struggle even though I understand my triggers?

• Can you have an eating disorder in a larger body?

• Is it normal for eating disorder thoughts to come back during pregnancy?

After 11 years as an eating disorder therapist specializing in trauma and perinatal mental health, here are three truths I wish more people — and more providers — understood.

1. You Can’t Heal an Eating Disorder with Talk Therapy Alone

One of the biggest misconceptions about eating disorder recovery is that insight equals healing.

Many clients can clearly explain:

• Where their disordered eating started

• How childhood trauma shaped their body image

• Why control around food feels safe

But understanding the pattern doesn’t automatically stop it.

Trauma and Eating Disorders Are Deeply Connected

Research shows a powerful link between trauma and eating disorders:

• Nearly 49.3% of eating disorder patients admitted to a residential facility met criteria compatible with PTSD.

• 43.8% of individuals diagnosed with an eating disorder reported experiencing more than one traumatic event.

Trauma is not just a memory — it is stored in the nervous system.

When trauma occurs, normal memory processing is disrupted. Instead of being stored as a past event, it can remain encoded in the amygdala and limbic system — the survival centers of the brain.

Traditional talk therapy primarily engages the prefrontal cortex (the thinking brain). But trauma lives in deeper, survival-based brain regions.

This is why someone can know they’re safe and still feel:

• Out of control around food

• Dissociated

• Hypervigilant about weight

• Deeply ashamed

EMDR and IFS for Eating Disorder Recovery

Modalities like Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Internal Family Systems (IFS) are particularly effective for trauma-informed eating disorder treatment.

These approaches help process traumatic memories at the root rather than repeatedly retelling the story — which can sometimes be re-traumatizing in traditional therapy settings.

If you’ve tried talk therapy and felt stuck, it may not be you.

It may be that your nervous system hasn’t had the chance to fully process what happened.

2. Eating Disorders During Pregnancy and Postpartum Are More Common Than We Think

Many people assume eating disorders disappear during pregnancy.

They don’t.

In fact, pregnancy and postpartum can be high-risk periods for the return or worsening of disordered eating.

Eating Disorder Statistics in Pregnancy

• About 1 in 20 pregnant women are at risk for an eating disorder during pregnancy.

• 40.2% of women report weight concerns during pregnancy.

• Around 15% of pregnant women are likely to have experienced an eating disorder at some point in their lives.

• Approximately 5–7.5% experience an eating disorder during pregnancy.

Rapid body changes, medical monitoring of weight, hormonal shifts, and pressure to “bounce back” postpartum can reactivate old coping strategies — especially for those with trauma histories.

Yet eating disorders in pregnancy and postpartum are often underdiagnosed and under-treated.

If you are experiencing:

• Food restriction during pregnancy

• Binge eating postpartum

• Obsessive body checking after birth

• Fear of weight gain while pregnant

You are not alone — and you deserve specialized, trauma-informed care.

3. You Can Have an Eating Disorder at Any Body Size

A dangerous myth still persists: that eating disorders only affect people who are visibly underweight.

The reality is very different.

• 94% of people with eating disorders live in “average” or higher weight bodies.

• Only 6% are medically underweight.

Individuals in higher weight bodies are 2.45 times more likely to engage in disordered eating behaviors — yet they are diagnosed at half the rate of individuals in lower weight bodies.

One study found eating disorder diagnoses are delayed by an average of 9 months among patients who were previously overweight or obese.

This delay matters.

Early intervention significantly improves eating disorder recovery outcomes. When providers dismiss symptoms due to BMI, treatment is postponed — sometimes for years.

Research on atypical anorexia shows that individuals in average or higher weight bodies can:

• Score higher on eating disorder psychopathology measures

• Lose their menstrual cycles at similar rates

• Experience dangerous electrolyte imbalances

Weight and BMI are not reliable indicators of whether someone is struggling with an eating disorder.

Eating disorders do not have a “look.”

Trauma-Informed Eating Disorder Therapy: A Whole-Person Approach

Effective eating disorder treatment must address:

• Trauma and nervous system dysregulation

• Body image and weight stigma

• Perinatal mental health

• Shame and protective coping strategies

• The impact of diet culture

Healing is not about willpower.

It is not about “just eating normally.”

And it is not about gaining more insight.

It is about helping the brain and body feel safe again.

If you are pregnant, postpartum, or parenting and struggling with food or body image, you are not broken.

With the right trauma-informed eating disorder therapy, recovery is possible.

If you feel you are struggling with an eating disorder, disordered eating, negative body image, or your relationship with food, you do not have to go through that alone.

👉 Book a free intro call here to start therapy and begin building a more peaceful relationship with food, your body, and motherhood.