What to look for in a bulimia and binge eating therapist

What to look for in a bulimia and binge eating therapist

This blog will show you how to spot a therapist with the right training and experience to help you recover and how to spot non-experts who claim that they can help you to recover – so you don’t get ripped off.

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Bulimia and binge eating are complicated and complex conditions, which really needs the mentorship of an expert to help patients recover. But experts are sometimes hard to find.

I was talking to a client from New York and in the conversation I mentioned someone who is very prominent US eating disorder coach. ‘Her’ she said, ‘Do you know how much she charges? $15,000. I mean who can afford that? I booked in for a discovery call and was put through to a very aggressive salesman and I mean aggressive. When I said I couldn’t afford it, he pressured me to use my credit card. I had to hang up on him. Never again.’

After our meeting. I started to wonder how difficult it is for a person with an eating disorder to find an expert capable of helping them, in the noisy world we all live in. Here are a few pointers. But first we need a way to cut out all the noise made by non-experts, charlatans and quacks.

How to spot a NON – Expert

There seems to be two types to look out for – the undertrained and the super sales person.

The Under-trained

Any therapist that doesn’t specialise in bulimia and binge eating is likely to be under-trained. They might be well meaning but they can’t help you recover.

So for example I have just seen an hypnotherapy clinic on the internet, who has a list of 70 conditions they treat. Everything from anxiety to work related stress, with nail biting and fear of public speaking in between. Which is fine but they also claim they treat binge eating, bulimia and eating disorders. How likely do you think it is that they have the training and experience to help you recover? Not very likely. 

It’s not all their fault – clients turn up and say ‘I’m addicted to chocolate can you cure me.’ Well they can make chocolate seem horrible for a time, but if you binge eat, you will probably just binge on something else like cake instead. At best it is a ‘sticking plaster’ intervention rather than recovery. It might be tempting, but just give them a wide pass.

The Super Sales People

Now there are lots of people who have recovered from a bulimia and binge eating, taken the time to train and research the topic thoroughly and who now dedicate their time to helping others recover. We are NOT including them in this group here. If you find one great. 

But I am concerned with a more sinister set of individuals – the super sales people. These organisations are usually fronted by an attractive young woman who claims to have had an eating disorder and has cured herself – her life has changed soooo …. much that she wants to share her secret with the world – for a price naturally.

Remember these people are great sales people and it is easy to get sucked in. A good test is to ask yourself – would you still be tempted if the same message was presented by a 40 year old mother of 2 living in a semi in Manchester straight from the school run – err perhaps not so tempted now.

Red flags 

Some red flags for me in general are:

• Anyone who promises to help you recover from bulimia or binge eating and lose weight. Some people lose weight in recovery but it is never part of the treatment. Anybody who claims you can recover while restricting your eating is lying to you. 
• Overlong ‘landing page’ which promises benefit after benefit after benefit and when you finally get to the bottom doesn’t discuss the price.
• Anybody who offers a ‘discovery call’ but you are passed to ‘one of the team’ a sales person – hang up.
• Anything which offers ‘Access to a FaceBook community worth $300 for free’
• Anybody who is selling a lifestyle – ‘I was like you once but look at me now. Don’t I look cute, slim and rich’ – pleazzzze do me a favour

Bad treatment programme

Any treatment programme which features any of the following – is not going to work.

• Restrictive dieting
• ‘Silver Bullet’ – the one vital secret
• Expensive and/or secret supplements
• Over complicated set of ‘iron rules’ which must be followed to the letter

So now you know who to avoid, what should you look for in a bulimia and binge eating expert.

How to spot a bulimia and binge eating expert

Bulimia and binge eating are complex and complicated conditions. They persist through a complex inter play between,

• The physical effects of food and the lack of food has on your body.
• The psychological effects of your thinking patterns.
• Your emotional resilience.

To help you recover your therapist must be well trained and experienced in all of these areas, in other words an expert.

This is a complex skill set and difficult to spot, but the following ‘rules of thumb. will sort out the wheat from the chaff, before deciding whether to go further.

An expert will specialise in eating disorders full stop. To do this they will be both well trained in this area and have many years experience. This information should be readily available on their website.

Along with this, the treatment should be outlined along with any prices involved, without the need for a ‘discovery call’.

Good treatment programme

Will always include

• Nutritional rehabilitation to nourish your body to health.
• Work with you as an individual at your own speed.
• Flexible rules that are simple and easy to follow.
• Skill building to reduce stress and anxiety and increase your emotional resilience.
• Progress should be reviews after 6 weeks.

There is more information on what to look for in a good recovery treatment and other free resources here.

Hope you find this useful, and if you have bulimia or are binge eating – get help asap. The sooner you start on recovery the sooner you will recover.