|
By: Jennifer Rollin, LCSW-C, Therapist & Founder of The Eating Disorder Center  If you’re an adult struggling with an eating disorder, you might find yourself downplaying what you’re going through. Maybe you’re going to work. Maybe you’re taking care of your kids. Maybe from the outside, your life looks “together.” And because of that, it can feel hard to justify reaching out for eating disorder treatment. You might tell yourself: “I should be able to handle this.” “Other people have it worse.” “I don’t look like I have an eating disorder.” I hear this all the time in my work as an eating disorder therapist. And I want to gently challenge it, because this belief is one of the biggest things that keeps people stuck. Eating disorders don’t have an age limitThere is a common misconception that eating disorders mostly affect teenagers or young adults. But the reality is that many adults struggle silently for years or even decades. Some people have had symptoms since adolescence that never fully resolved. Others develop disordered eating later in life during periods of change or stress. This can include perimenopause and menopause, when hormonal shifts can impact mood, appetite, body composition, and how you feel in your body. For some people, weight redistribution or changes in metabolism can trigger increased body image distress or a return to old coping patterns. It can also include becoming an empty nester. When children leave home, many parents are left with more space, which can bring up feelings of loss, identity shifts, or unresolved emotions that were easier to avoid when life was busier. Add in career stress, relationship changes, caregiving for aging parents, or navigating your own health concerns, and it makes sense that food and body can become a place where people try to cope or regain a (false) sense of control. Struggling with food or your body as an adult is not a personal failure. It is a sign that you deserve support. You can be successful on the outside and still be strugglingOne of the reasons eating disorders in adults often go unnoticed is because people are still functioning. You might be meeting deadlines, showing up for others, and managing responsibilities. But internally, you may feel consumed by thoughts about food, body image, or weight. You might spend hours thinking about what you ate, what you will eat, or how to compensate. You might feel guilt after eating, anxiety around certain foods, or a constant sense of not feeling “good enough” in your body. Functioning does not mean you are not struggling. From an ACT perspective, I often ask clients to consider whether their current patterns are moving them toward the life they want, or away from it. Even if you are managing on the surface, your world may be getting smaller. “Not sick enough” is a trapThe idea that you need to be “sick enough” to deserve eating disorder treatment is incredibly common and incredibly harmful. Research shows that less than 6 percent of people with eating disorders are considered medically underweight. That means most people struggling do not fit the stereotype. Eating disorders are not defined by how someone looks. They are defined by the relationship someone has with food, their body, and the behaviors they use to cope. If your thoughts feel obsessive, if your behaviors feel hard to stop, or if your relationship with food is causing distress, that is enough. Waiting until things get worse only makes recovery harder. A DBT perspective on changeFrom a DBT lens, we talk about dialectics, or holding two truths at once. You can be doing your best and still need support. You can be functioning and still be struggling. You can be navigating major life transitions and still deserve care. DBT also emphasizes building skills to tolerate distress and regulate emotions. Many eating disorder behaviors serve as a way to cope with overwhelming feelings, whether those feelings are tied to hormonal changes, identity shifts, or life stress. When you begin to develop alternative skills, you create more space to respond rather than react. You do not need to feel fully ready or convinced to begin this process. Willingness is enough. What eating disorder recovery can look like for adultsRecovery is not about perfection. It is about creating a more flexible, peaceful relationship with food and your body. For adults, this often includes:
At our practice, we provide eating disorder therapy in Rockville, Maryland, serving Bethesda, Potomac, Chevy Chase, Gaithersburg, and Silver Spring. We also offer virtual eating disorder treatment throughout Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, Florida, and California. We use evidence based approaches like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and Exposure and Response Prevention to support meaningful, lasting change. You don’t have to waitIf you’ve been telling yourself that it is “not that bad,” I want to invite you to pause and consider a different question. What is it costing you to stay where you are? Eating disorders often take up time, energy, and mental space. They can impact relationships, self worth, and your ability to fully engage in your life. You are allowed to want more ease, more freedom, and more peace in your relationship with food and your body. Full recovery is possible. And you are worthy of support at any stage. Schedule a FREE 15-minute consultation to explore how eating disorder therapy or recovery coaching can help you to find freedom. 🌟 Available in MD, VA, DC, PA, FL, and CA for eating disorder therapy 🌍 Offering recovery coaching worldwide  Jennifer Rollin, MSW, LCSW-C (she/her), is an award-winning eating disorder therapist and the founder of The Eating Disorder Center, a specialized therapy practice for eating disorders and body image concerns. Jennifer uses ACT, CBT, and DBT to help clients find freedom from eating disorders and body image struggles. Jennifer is recognized as a leading eating disorder expert and was named one of the top professionals in the field by a premier treatment center. She is the recipient of the Best of Bethesda Award for Best Individual Therapist (2025) and the Best of Rockville Award (2020–2024). She helps clients to live full, meaningful lives, beyond food and body image concerns. The Eating Disorder Center is a premier outpatient eating disorder therapy center founded by Jennifer Rollin. We specialize in helping children, teens, and adults struggling with anorexia, binge eating disorder, bulimia, OSFED, and body image issues. We provide eating disorder therapy in Rockville, MD, easily accessible to individuals in Potomac, North Potomac, Bethesda, Olney, Silver Spring, Germantown, and Washington, D.C. We also provide eating disorder therapy in Arlington, Virginia and virtually throughout Virginia. Additionally, we offer eating disorder therapy virtually in Florida, Pennsylvania, and California. We provide eating disorder and EMDR trauma therapy in Rockville, Maryland and virtually throughout Maryland and Virginia. We provide eating disorder recovery coaching via Zoom to people worldwide. Connect with us through our website at www.theeatingdisordercenter.com
“I’m Not Sick Enough for Eating Disorder Treatment”… Here’s Why That Thought Keeps You Stuck8/26/2026
By: Jennifer Rollin, LCSW-C, Therapist & Founder of The Eating Disorder Center  If you’ve ever thought, “I’m not sick enough to need help,” you are not alone. In fact, this is a very common thought that people struggling with eating disorders and disordered eating experience. It shows up across diagnoses, across body sizes, and across ages. And it can be one of the biggest barriers to getting support. You might be thinking: “I’m still functioning.” “I don’t look like I have an eating disorder.” “Other people have it worse.” “I should just be able to fix this on my own.” These thoughts can feel very convincing. They can even sound rational. But they are also often part of the eating disorder itself. The truth about “not sick enough”There is a harmful myth that eating disorders have a certain look or severity threshold that determines whether someone deserves help. That is simply not true. Eating disorders are mental health conditions, not weight categories. Research shows that less than 6 percent of people with eating disorders are considered medically “underweight.” That means the vast majority of people struggling do not “look” the way people expect. Yet they are still dealing with significant psychological distress, preoccupation with food or body, and behaviors that impact their quality of life. If your thoughts about food, body, or weight are taking up a lot of space in your mind, that matters. If your relationship with food feels stressful, rigid, or chaotic, that matters. If you are using behaviors to cope that don’t feel aligned with your values, that matters. You do not need to hit a certain level of suffering to deserve support. Why this thought keeps you stuckFrom an ACT perspective, I often invite clients to look at whether a thought is helpful, not whether it is true. So let’s look at the thought “I’m not sick enough.” Does it move you toward recovery? Or does it keep you stuck in the same patterns? For most people, this thought delays help. It keeps them waiting for things to get worse before they allow themselves to reach out. It reinforces the idea that their pain is not valid enough to be addressed. Eating disorders thrive in that waiting. The longer you stay in the cycle, the more entrenched the behaviors and thoughts can become. Neural pathways strengthen. Avoidance grows. Life can start to shrink around the disorder. You do not need to wait until your house is on fire to call for help. If you smell smoke, that is enough. The comparison trapAnother piece of this is comparison. Eating disorders often tell you to compare yourself to others and use that as evidence that you are “fine.” But comparison also disconnects you from your own experience. It shifts the focus away from how you are actually feeling and toward an external measuring stick that is constantly changing. Your pain does not need to be ranked to be valid. A DBT lens on this thoughtFrom a DBT perspective, we might think about dialectics, or the idea that two things can be true at once. You might be functioning in certain areas of your life and still be struggling deeply with an eating disorder. You might not look like what people expect and still deserve care. Both can be true. DBT also invites us to practice distress tolerance and emotion regulation skills instead of turning to eating disorder behaviors. If part of what is keeping you stuck is the belief that you are not “bad enough,” then one step can be learning to tolerate the discomfort of not having certainty while still choosing recovery aligned actions. You do not need to feel fully convinced that you are “sick enough” to begin making changes. You deserve help earlier, not laterOne of the biggest misconceptions about eating disorder recovery is that you need to reach a crisis point before starting treatment. In reality, early support can make a significant difference. Getting help sooner can mean: Less time feeling consumed by food and body thoughts More flexibility and freedom in your daily life A quicker path back to the things that matter to you Recovery does not require proof of severity. It requires willingness to take a step toward change. What treatment can look likeEating disorder therapy is not about taking something away from you without support. It is about helping you build a life that feels bigger than the disorder. At our practice, we provide eating disorder therapy in Rockville, Maryland, serving Bethesda, Potomac, Chevy Chase, Gaithersburg, and Silver Spring, as well as virtual therapy throughout Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. We use evidence based approaches like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and Exposure and Response Prevention to help you to heal your relationship with food and your body. This process is collaborative and compassionate. It is about supporting you in taking steps at a pace that feels doable while still moving you forward. If this is youIf a part of you is reading this and thinking, “This sounds like me, but I still feel like I’m not sick enough,” I want you to know that this thought is incredibly common. And you do not have to wait for it to go away before reaching out. In fact, reaching out while that thought is still there is often part of the work. You deserve support not because you have proven that you are “sick enough,” but because you are struggling. Full recovery is possible. And you deserve to pursue it now, not later, no matter what your mind is telling you. Schedule a FREE 15-minute consultation to explore how eating disorder therapy or recovery coaching can help you to find freedom. 🌟 Available in MD, VA, DC, PA, FL, and CA for eating disorder therapy 🌍 Offering recovery coaching worldwide  Jennifer Rollin, MSW, LCSW-C (she/her), is an award-winning eating disorder therapist and the founder of The Eating Disorder Center, a specialized therapy practice for eating disorders and body image concerns. Jennifer uses ACT, CBT, and DBT to help clients find freedom from eating disorders and body image struggles. Jennifer is recognized as a leading eating disorder expert and was named one of the top professionals in the field by a premier treatment center. She is the recipient of the Best of Bethesda Award for Best Individual Therapist (2025) and the Best of Rockville Award (2020–2024). She helps clients to live full, meaningful lives, beyond food and body image concerns. The Eating Disorder Center is a premier outpatient eating disorder therapy center founded by Jennifer Rollin. We specialize in helping children, teens, and adults struggling with anorexia, binge eating disorder, bulimia, OSFED, and body image issues. We provide eating disorder therapy in Rockville, MD, easily accessible to individuals in Potomac, North Potomac, Bethesda, Olney, Silver Spring, Germantown, and Washington, D.C. We also provide eating disorder therapy in Arlington, Virginia and virtually throughout Virginia. Additionally, we offer eating disorder therapy virtually in Florida, Pennsylvania, and California. We provide eating disorder and EMDR trauma therapy in Rockville, Maryland and virtually throughout Maryland and Virginia. We provide eating disorder recovery coaching via Zoom to people worldwide. Connect with us through our website at www.theeatingdisordercenter.com
|
The Eating Disorder CenterWe are a premier outpatient eating disorder therapy center in Rockville, Maryland.
We also provide eating disorder recovery coaching to people worldwide via Zoom. Click here to book your free 15 minute phone consultation! Phone: 301-246-6856 Email: [email protected] Archives
October 2026
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed