There is a piece of advice I give people who contact me for referrals. Even in a city like New York which has a large number of mental health professionals, it can be hard to find trained, experienced therapists who treat people with eating disorders. These qualities are necessary but not sufficient to choose the best therapist for each individual.
The advice is simple: make sure you like and feel comfortable with the therapist from the start. Everyone describes the experiences of clicking with a person when first meeting. Whether it is related to personality types, background or common interests, the reasons are not always clear but the feeling is universal.
After finding a few referrals for experienced therapists, the best next step is to trust your instincts. Talking about food and eating disorder symptoms will be a very personal and vulnerable time. There will be ups and downs, starts and stops.
The sense of a true connection with the therapist will make the difficult steps easier to manage. Believing there is something important in that relationship creates a bond that can begin to challenge the tenacity of the eating disorder and present a road to recovery.
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