Written by: Angela Derrick, Ph.D. & Susan McClanahan, Ph.D.
Date Posted: February 21, 2026 4:44 pm
SpringSource: Eating, Weight & Mood Disorders
Chicago | Northbrook | Virtual Across Illinois
Eating Disorders Awareness Week invites us to look beyond stereotypes.
Eating disorders are not limited to teenage girls. They do not only affect people in thin bodies. They are not simply about food, willpower, or appearance. Eating disorders are complex mental health conditions shaped by biology, culture, relationships, trauma, mood disorders, identity, and more.
At SpringSource: Eating, Weight & Mood Disorders, we specialize in evidence-based eating disorder treatment in Chicago and Northbrook for young, midlife, and older adults, with a particular focus on midlife women, individuals in higher-weight bodies, and those navigating GLP-1 medications. During Eating Disorders Awareness Week, we want to highlight something that’s often not discussed: the power of a relational and psychodynamic approach in recovery.
Because eating disorders are not just behavioral problems. They are relational adaptations.
A relational and psychodynamic approach explores how early attachment patterns, relational experiences, and unconscious emotional processes shape present-day behaviors.
Rather than focusing only on symptom elimination, this approach asks deeper questions:
Eating disorders often develop as adaptive strategies. They help individuals manage anxiety, shame, grief, anger, loneliness, or a sense of powerlessness. Restriction can create a sense of control. Bingeing can soothe emotional overwhelm. Compulsive exercise can regulate agitation. Purging can provide temporary relief.
In a relational framework, we understand that these behaviors once served a purpose such as protective function, but now are no longer serving the individual.
Dr. Angela Derrick notes, “Much of the initial work in therapy is understanding how the symptoms might have at one time felt beneficial or necessary to the individual. Once the client feels that the therapist truly understands and appreciates this, they are more likely to be able to consider the cost of the symptoms both historically and in the present. With this in mind, the therapy can then proceed into considering the implications of finding healthier ways to meet one’s needs. Without an appreciation from the therapist for what the symptoms represent, the client is likely to hold tight to the behaviors. This is one way in which having a strong therapeutic relationship is important in the treatment of an eating disorder.”
Many individuals with eating disorders carry deep internalized beliefs:
These beliefs do not emerge in isolation. They are shaped in relationships.
Healing, therefore, also happens in relationship.
In relational psychodynamic therapy, the therapeutic relationship becomes a corrective emotional experience. Patients are met with consistency, curiosity, and compassion rather than judgment. Over time, individuals internalize a new way of relating to themselves.
This work is especially powerful for:
At SpringSource, we integrate relational work with structured, evidence-based modalities where depth and practicality coexist.
While relational and psychodynamic work addresses underlying patterns, we also incorporate structured, evidence-based therapies to support behavioral and emotional change.
CBT helps individuals identify and challenge distorted thoughts about food, body, and self-worth. For example:
CBT provides tools for cognitive flexibility while deeper relational themes are explored.
Many individuals with eating disorders struggle with emotional dysregulation. DBT helps build:
For those who binge or purge in response to overwhelming feelings, DBT skills can reduce impulsivity while relational therapy explores the roots of those emotions.
ACT focuses on values-driven living rather than symptom elimination alone. Individuals learn to:
This approach is especially helpful for midlife women reevaluating identity, purpose, and self-worth.
Not every patient is ready for full behavioral abstinence immediately. Harm reduction allows for:
This is particularly important for adults balancing careers, caregiving, and health conditions.
An examination of modern life shows that women today carry extraordinary responsibilities, with significant labor expenditures that go unrecognized and uncompensated. The invisible labor includes:
Many midlife women describe feeling constantly responsible and rarely supported.
Add to this:
The result is chronic stress.
When emotional needs are consistently deprioritized, food and body often become the site of control or self-soothing.
Restriction may feel like reclaiming power.
Binge eating may feel like relief.
Compulsive exercise may feel like the only “me time” one is afforded.
These behaviors are not random. They are relational and cultural responses.
Research increasingly shows that eating disorders are not confined to adolescence. Many women experience:
Hormonal shifts affect appetite, mood, and sleep. Weight redistribution can feel distressing in a culture that equates thinness with worth. The prevailing diet culture advice, such as “you just need to eat less and move more,” is woefully insufficient, often harmful, and rarely works, especially in women’s bodies.
Women may feel invisible professionally and in their relationships, while simultaneously being hyper-visible physically. The pressure to remain youthful, competent, and selfless can become overwhelming.
In relational therapy, we explore:
Recovery for midlife women often involves reclaiming space and autonomy.
As specialists in eating, weight & mood disorders, we also support individuals navigating GLP-1 medications.
GLP-1 medications can:
For some, medication reduces suffering. For others, it activates new rigidity or perfectionism.
Relational therapy helps explore:
Our approach is inclusive and non-judgmental with the goal of psychological clarity and sustainable health.
Eating Disorders Awareness Week often focuses on warning signs and early detection. These are essential.
But awareness must also include understanding.
Eating disorders are rarely just about food. They are about:
If we treat only the behavior without addressing the relational roots, recovery may remain fragile.
A relational and psychodynamic approach strengthens recovery from the inside out.
Depression, anxiety, and trauma frequently coexist with eating disorders.
Mood instability can:
At SpringSource, we treat eating, weight, and mood disorders simultaneously.
This integrated model allows us to:
Symptom reduction without emotional integration often leads to recurrence. Depth work reduces relapse risk.
Recovery is not perfection.
Recovery might mean:
For midlife women, recovery may also mean:
These shifts are relational as much as behavioral.
SpringSource: Eating, Weight & Mood Disorders is a clinician-owned practice offering:
We provide in-person care in downtown Chicago and Northbrook, and virtual therapy across Illinois.
If you are struggling with food, body image, or control, especially in midlife, you are not alone, and you are not failing.
You may be carrying too much.
The invisible load is real. The pressure to perform is real. The cultural messaging is relentless.
Eating disorders are not signs of weakness. They are signals.
Signals that something inside needs attention, support, and care.
This Eating Disorders Awareness Week, we invite you to expand your understanding of recovery. It is not only about stopping behaviors. It is about transforming your relationships with: food, your body, others, and yourself.
SpringSource specializes in eating disorder treatment in Chicago, Northbrook, and virtually throughout Illinois, with expertise in midlife women, higher-weight individuals, GLP-1 mental health support, and integrated mood disorder care.
We offer free 15-minute consultations to answer questions and help you explore next steps.
Recovery is always within reach.
Call 224-202-6260 to learn more.
We provide in-person therapy in Northbrook and Chicago, with telehealth therapy available throughout Illinois.
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