Therapy for Eating Disorders


“There is no real beauty without some slight imperfection”

Eating disorders have a harmful impact on physical, emotional, mental, and social well-being. Eating disorders are best treated using a biopsychosocial approach which includes an integrated team of professionals. The role of the psychologist is to provide evidence-based therapy that helps reduce overly rigid food rules and routines, as well as decrease the amount of time spent thinking about food, body-weight, and shape.

For adults seeking help with an eating disorder, the most well-researched treatment options are Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Eating Disorders (CBT-E) and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy for Eating Disorders (DBT-E). Dr. Horn provides these treatments for adults who are medically stable and appropriate for outpatient care.

As a part of treatment you can expect that we may:

  • Identify triggers for eating disorder behaviors and thoughts

  • Gently and gradually challenge unhelpful eating habits/rules

  • Challenge distorted thoughts about food and body image

  • Build mindful and intuitive eating practices

  • Reconnect to hunger and fullness cues

  • Build coping skills to manage stressful situations and difficult emotions

  • Practice boundary setting with others in your life

  • Cultivate body compassion

  • Explore other aspects of your identity beyond food and body

Eating Disorder Treatment FAQs

  • Eating disorders are complex and having expertise in one area does not always mean a clinician has the expertise or level of care and supervision to provide care in another area. Desert to Peaks provides eating disorder treatment for the following diagnoses:

    • Binge eating disorder

    • Emotional eating / stress eating

    • Bulimia, including exercise bulimia

    • Restrictive eating disorders that do not meet full criteria for anorexia

  • We work with adults of any gender who are medically stable and appropriate for outpatient treatment.

  • Absolutely. It's vital to coordinate care to receive the best possible treatment. If you have a medical doctor, psychiatrist, nutritionist, or other provider we happy to work with them.

  • In an effort to reduce one of the many barriers to starting therapy, a medical clearance is not required prior to starting therapy. However, in order to ensure you receive adequate care, your provider may ask you to complete a medical evaluation during treatment. This would be most likely to occur if your provider is worried that outpatient care no longer provides you with sufficient support.