Find an Eating Disorder Therapist

When you decide to seek out a therapist to work with you and your eating disorder, you can approach it in several ways.

There is no substitute for a word-of-mouth referral from a trusted friend. You can ask your friend specific questions about what was helpful and how the therapist worked. Of course, you're lucky if you know a friend who is willing to talk about these issues.

You can also check with your doctor or a local hospital. Medical practitioners normally have referral lists for those seeking counseling help. They may not, however, have a list of therapists who specialize in eating disorders.

If these options aren't helpful, and your local phone book doesn't lead you to good providers in your area, here are some web resources for finding eating disorder therapists.

Find a Therapist Via the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA)

The NEDA offers search tools for finding therapists by state, plus inpatient/residential treatment centers, support groups, and research studies.

Entries for treatment centers and individual providers in the NEDA's database are very descriptive, including treatment methods, payment options, credentials, and subspecialties. Support group entries are also helpful.

As of this writing, the NEDA site offered information on fourteen eating disorder research studies nationwide.

Eating Disorder Therapists and More -- the Something Fishy Treatment Finder

This resource is incredibly comprehensive, with thousands of entries of various kinds. Includes categories broken down by treatment type, location, and approach.

As an added bonus, this page offers directories for many alternative treatments (yoga, art, and others), university treatment centers, and much more.

EDReferral.com

Search by state, by therapist name, or by other keyword. Also find treatment centers, retreats, research projects, and support groups. One strength of this site is that it records the experience level of each treatment provider.

If there is a weakness to this site, it is that dietitians and counselors are lumped into the same category.

Eating-Disorder-Referral.com

This otherwise hard-to-find site has a nice search interface that focuses on treatment centers rather than individual therapists. Listings seem to be sparse, though, when you click through to individual states.

4therapy.com

4therapy.com includes resources for many other conditions and concerns in addition to eating disorders. Focuses on treatment centers rather than individual counselors. The number of treatment centers listed could be higher; however, each listing provides a good amount of information.

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