Treating Eating Disorders with EMDR

If you have ever experienced an eating disorder, or have worked in the field of treating eating disorders, you know that it is rarely - if ever - about the food.

Picture an iceberg. The eating disorder - the behaviors you can see - is the tip you see above the water. But, as we all know about icebergs, there is always so much more under the surface.

What could be under the surface? Eating disorders are like a perfect storm, when there is a culmination of many biological (genetic predisposition), social (messages from the media), cultural (expectations from your family), and environmental (stress or trauma in the home) factors. 

Eating disorders can be a result of experiencing trauma, attachment wounds, and other life events. 

Our life experiences, and how we remember and hold on to the events, shape us. 

Our memories are stored on the right side of our hippocampus - the side of the brain that does not know time. 

When we experience traumatic or stressful life events, our brains and bodies often think that these events are still occurring.

As a result, people grasp for protection and control - something an eating disorder promises to offer, but doesn’t actually provide. 

By using Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy, we are able to tell the brain and body the traumatic or stressful event is over. 

We can let the brain and body know time has passed, and you do not need to hold onto the eating disorder for safety, control, or protection anymore. 

EMDR can help the brain and body understand they can trust each other, once again.