Anorexia Signs & Symptoms may include:

• Denial of any problem
• Dramatic weight loss in short period
• Exaggerated and intense fears of becoming overweight
• Preoccupation with calories, food and weight
• Restricting food for prolonged periods
• Inability to stop dieting even when below normal weight
• Distorted body image or seeing oneself as fat even with evidence to the contrary
• Constant weighing of oneself throughout the day
• Increased isolation from family or friends
• Isolative behavior concerning food and exercise - may stop eating in front of others
• Increased prolonged periods of exercise for purpose of burning calories
• Increased dishonesty with self and others over eating and exercise habits
• Frequent arguments with others regarding eating habits
• Increased mood swings
• Self esteem and confidence levels drop
• Possible loss of hair from head
• Increased body hair as thermal insulator for body's decreasing ability to stay warm
• Loss of the ability to enjoy friends or activities
• Strong feelings of being in control of oneself
• There is often a "High" experienced with restricting and over exercising behavior
• Feelings of self-loathing

Bulimia Signs & Symptoms may include:

• Episodes of binge eating large quantities of food followed by purging
• An abuse of syrup of Ipecac for inducing vomiting
• Purging may be by vomiting, use and abuse of laxatives, diuretics or excessive exercise
• a binge-purge cycle that is often a secretive event
• Increasing isolation for purpose of binging and purging
• Obsessive thoughts of food, calories, weight, binging and purging
• Periods of restricting food accompanied by a plan to binge and purge
• A decrease in the enjoyment of activities
• An increase in mood swings
• Self esteem and self confidence falls
• Feelings of helplessness & hopelessness
• Feelings of being alone with an out-of-control secret problem
• Intense fears of becoming fat and feeling fat
• Body distortion or seeing oneself as fat even if not
• Denial that there is a problem
• Generally individual is at or around normal weight
• Habit of chewing food and spitting it out
• There often is a "high" and sense of relief following purging behavior

Anorexia and Bulimia

Anorexia and Bulimia behavior includes restricting food, over-exercising, and/or cycling through periods of restricting, binging, and purging. Anorexia and Bulimia is often caused by the need to “push away” feelings and uncomfortable emotions and/or the confusion of cycling through “taking everything in” and then “pushing it away again”. Difficulty with anorexia and bulimia often intensify when difficult or stressful periods arise in one’s life.

Our treatment approach to anorexia and bulimia includes teaching new strategies to cope with life stress, to deal with painful emotions and to learn new life skills to gain a healthy perspective and relationship with food.

Eating Disorder Program Structure

Dr. Anita Johnston, Senior Expert Clinical Consultant for Moonpointe

Monday Evenings: Life Skills, 5:30pm – 8:30pm

Monday evening is the only night that women from the Compulsive and Emotional Eating Program and women from the Compulsive and Emotional Eating Program come together. This unique group is a Life Skills group which, through a combination of didactic and experiential processes, teaches some of the basic life skills required for recovery from eating disorders and body image disturbances: i.e., anger and stress management, assertive communication, body awareness, etc. Emphasis in this group will be on cognitive distortions and behavioral patterns that contribute to the dysfunctional relationship with food and body. This group is led by Bonnie Watson.

Wednesday Evenings: Process Group, 5:30pm – 8:30pm

The group on Wednesday evenings is a relaxed group where women are encouraged to identify and explore what they are doing with food. This is the place where women can express their feelings and struggles with eating and weight issues and get feedback and support from group members and therapy staff. The emphasis of this group is to help women understand how the other issues they struggle with in their lives are related to their struggles with eating, food, and weight issues. This group, led by Denise Cutshaw, may include mindfulness and meditation exercises in addition to talking and sharing.

Thursday Evenings: Food & Feelings, 5:30pm – 8:30pm

Thursday evenings include two components: “Food and Feelings” and “Body Connections”. “Food and Feelings” leads participants through a variety of self-awareness exercises to help them recognize the relationships between their emotions and disordered eating behaviors. “Body Connections” is also experiential, where compulsive and emotional eating disorder patients are led through gentle exercises designed to help connect with and feel more comfortable within, the physical body. This group is led by Denise Cutshaw, with special guest instructors Siri Khalsa-Zemel, Patty Dougherty, and Elizabeth Cole.

In addition to having the dietitian as a co-leader during “Food and Feelings”, participants will meet with the nutritionist individually, throughout their participation in the program, to assist them in creating a customized nutrition plan. After the initial individual session, they will see the nutritionist on a regular basis, as determined by their needs.

Recovery is Possible

We believe that recovery is possible for everyone. Call us for more information at 1-800-675-2041 or e-mail your questions today.