Could Your Client Benefit from Eating Disorder Therapy?

By: Jennifer Rollin, LCSW-C, Therapist & Founder of The Eating Disorder Center

As a fellow therapist, you may work with clients who present with anxiety, perfectionism, or low self-worth—traits that can sometimes mask a developing or co-occurring eating disorder. So how can you tell when it’s time to bring in an eating disorder specialist?

At The Eating Disorder Center—located in Rockville, Maryland and providing virtual services across Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.—we collaborate with therapists, physicians, and school counselors to offer specialized eating disorder treatment for children, teens, and adults. If you’ve noticed troubling shifts in your client’s relationship with food or their body, they may benefit from adjunctive eating disorder care alongside your ongoing therapy.

We often work alongside other therapists to help their clients when it comes to their relationship to food and their body.


Signs That May Indicate an Eating Disorder

Eating disorders often thrive in secrecy. Clients may not see their behaviors as problematic—or may hide them entirely. But seemingly small changes in thought patterns, routines, and behaviors can signal a deeper issue. Warning signs to keep an eye on include:
​

• A sudden fixation on food, weight, or body size, especially with talk of “clean eating,” cutting out carbs, or intense fear of gaining weight
• Often feeling guilt, anxiety or shame following eating
• Negative body image that impacts mood or limits their life
• Social withdrawal, skipping meals with others, or replacing relationships with rigid food or exercise routines
• Ritualistic or rule-bound eating, such as cutting food into tiny pieces, needing to eat in a specific order, or using certain utensils
• Excessive use of condiments or drinks (e.g., large amounts of mustard or frequent use of coffee/diet soda to suppress hunger)
• Restricting, bingeing, and/or purging-as well as compulsive exercise for some
• Avoiding foods due to texture, smell, or fear of aversive consequences like choking or vomiting—often linked to ARFID and/or sensory sensitivities

Clients may downplay symptoms—especially in teens and adults who mask distress behind “healthy” habits. That’s why your clinical intuition matters. If something feels off, it’s worth exploring further.

Clients don’t need a formal diagnosis to receive support. We frequently work with those struggling with anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, ARFID, OSFED, compulsive exercise, or patterns of disordered eating that may not fit neatly into any category—but are still deeply harmful.

It’s also important to note that clients do not need to be emaciated or technically classified as ‘underweight’ (although they may be underweight for their bodies) to be seriously struggling with an eating disorder.


Our Approach to Treatment

At The Eating Disorder Center, we provide trauma-informed, evidence-based care that’s tailored to the client’s developmental stage, identity, and unique presentation. Our services include:

• Outpatient Individual therapy (in-person in Rockville and virtual across Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia) utilizing ACT, DBT, and CBT
• Therapy for eating disorders and co-occurring conditions like OCD and trauma—including EMDR therapy for clients with trauma histories
• FBT-informed care for teens and adolescents
• Recovery coaching and body image therapy
• Neurodiversity affirming eating disorder support

We also support families in navigating the recovery process, including parent coaching and psychoeducation. Many clients benefit from our collaborative care model, where we communicate with other providers (like you) to ensure alignment in treatment goals and approaches.

We take a Health at Every Size®-aligned and collaborative approach, working closely with outside providers—including you—to support comprehensive, sustainable recovery.


Full Recovery Is Possible And Early Support Matters

Eating disorders are complex, often misunderstood, and can be life-threatening. But the good news is: with the right care, full recovery is possible.

If you’re seeing signs in a client and wondering whether they could benefit from additional support, we’re here to help. We offer free provider consultations and are always happy to help you assess whether a referral makes sense—or simply to answer your questions.
​
Let’s work together to ensure your client gets the care they deserve.

---

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, NY, FL, and CA for eating disorder therapy
🌍 Offering recovery coaching worldwide

---

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 New York (NYC), 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