When Talk Therapy Isn't Enough: How Somatic Experiencing Unlocks Eating Disorder Recovery
"I know all the right things to think, but I still can't stop the behaviors."
If you've been in traditional therapy for your eating disorder and found yourself saying something similar, you're not alone. Many of my clients arrive at my practice feeling frustrated and defeated after years of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), or other talk-based approaches that, while valuable, seemed to miss something crucial in their eating disorder recovery.
That missing piece? The body—and this is where working with an eating disorders counselor can make all the difference.
Why Traditional Therapy Sometimes Falls Short
Traditional eating disorder treatment often focuses heavily on changing thoughts and behaviors—identifying negative thought patterns, challenging cognitive distortions, and developing coping skills. These approaches can be incredibly helpful and form an important foundation for recovery. However, eating disorders aren't just mental health conditions; they're deeply embodied experiences that live in our nervous system, our muscle memory, and our cellular responses to stress and safety.
When we experience trauma, stress, or chronic restriction, our bodies hold onto these experiences in ways that our thinking minds might not even recognize. You might logically understand that your body needs nourishment, but if your nervous system is stuck in a state of perceived threat, it may continue to resist eating or trigger compensatory behaviors regardless of what you rationally know to be true.
This is where somatic experiencing becomes a game-changer for eating disorder recovery.
Understanding Somatic Experiencing: Healing Through the Body
Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a body-oriented therapeutic approach developed by Dr. Peter Levine that focuses on releasing trapped survival energy and restoring natural resilience. Rather than analyzing thoughts or discussing problems, SE works directly with the nervous system's innate capacity to heal and regulate itself.
The foundation of somatic experiencing rests on the understanding that trauma and chronic stress can cause our nervous systems to become stuck in defensive states—fight, flight, freeze, or collapse. In eating disorder recovery, these stuck states often manifest as food restriction, binge episodes, compulsive exercise, or other behaviors that once served as survival mechanisms but now interfere with daily life.
Unlike traditional therapy that primarily engages the thinking brain, somatic experiencing works with the more primitive parts of our nervous system that control our automatic responses to perceived threats. This approach recognizes that lasting healing often requires addressing the body's stored responses to stress and trauma, not just our conscious thoughts about them.
What Happens in a Somatic Experiencing Session
Many people wonder what somatic therapy actually looks like, especially if they're accustomed to traditional talk therapy. While every session is unique and tailored to the individual's needs, there are some common elements you can expect.
We begin by establishing safety and connection, both in the therapeutic relationship and within your own body. This might involve simple grounding exercises, noticing what feels supportive in the environment, or becoming aware of your breath without trying to change it.
Throughout the session, I guide you to notice subtle sensations in your body—perhaps a tightness in your chest, warmth in your hands, or a sense of heaviness in your shoulders. Rather than immediately trying to analyze or understand these sensations, we simply observe them with curiosity and compassion.
As we track these bodily experiences, you might notice natural movements or impulses arising—a desire to stretch, push, pull away, or curl inward. In somatic experiencing, we honor these impulses as the body's wisdom attempting to complete interrupted survival responses. You might find yourself making small movements, taking deeper breaths, or experiencing shifts in temperature or energy.
The magic often happens in these moments of allowing your body to express what it needs to express. Clients frequently report feelings of relief, spaciousness, or calm that they haven't experienced in years. Others might feel emotional releases—tears, laughter, or waves of feeling that seem to come from nowhere but leave them feeling lighter afterward.
Importantly, somatic experiencing sessions are always done at your pace and within your window of tolerance. We never force or rush the process, understanding that the body has its own timeline for healing that must be respected.
How Somatic Experiencing Transforms Eating Disorder Recovery
For eating disorder recovery, somatic experiencing can be particularly powerful because it addresses the disconnection from bodily cues that often underlies disordered eating behaviors. Many individuals with eating disorders have learned to override or ignore their body's signals about hunger, fullness, comfort, and safety.
Through somatic work, clients begin to rebuild their capacity to sense and trust their internal experiences. They might rediscover what genuine hunger feels like, learn to distinguish between emotional and physical sensations, or develop a greater tolerance for uncomfortable feelings without immediately turning to eating disorder behaviors.
Somatic experiencing also helps address the trauma responses that often contribute to eating disorders. Whether someone has experienced obvious trauma or more subtle forms of stress and overwhelm, their nervous system may have learned to use food restriction, binge eating, or other behaviors as ways to manage overwhelming experiences.
By working directly with the nervous system's responses, somatic experiencing can help discharge trapped survival energy and restore the body's natural capacity for self-regulation. This creates space for new patterns to emerge—patterns based on safety, connection, and attunement to internal wisdom rather than fear and control.
One of my clients described it beautifully: "I spent years learning to think my way out of my eating disorder, but somatic work taught me to feel my way into recovery."
The Integration of Cognitive and Somatic Approaches
While somatic experiencing can be profoundly healing on its own, I've found that the most comprehensive recovery often happens when we integrate body-based work with cognitive skills. As clients become more regulated and connected to their bodies through somatic work, they're often better able to utilize the cognitive tools they may have learned in previous therapy.
Think of it this way: if your nervous system is stuck in a state of chronic activation or shutdown, it's difficult to access the prefrontal cortex—the part of your brain responsible for rational thinking, planning, and implementing coping strategies. Somatic work helps calm and regulate the nervous system, creating the neurological conditions necessary for cognitive skills to be most effective.
Many clients find that mindfulness practices, cognitive restructuring techniques, and behavioral changes become much more accessible once their nervous system feels safer and more regulated. The cognitive skills they learned in previous therapy don't disappear; they simply become more available and effective when supported by a regulated nervous system.
Who Can Benefit from Somatic Experiencing
Somatic experiencing can be particularly helpful for individuals who:
Have participated in traditional eating disorder therapy but continue to struggle with behaviors or feel "stuck"
Experience high levels of anxiety, panic, or overwhelm around food and eating
Have a history of trauma, whether related to their eating disorder or not
Feel disconnected from their body or have difficulty recognizing hunger, fullness, or emotional cues
Struggle with perfectionism, control issues, or difficulty tolerating uncertainty
Find themselves using eating disorder behaviors during times of stress despite knowing better coping strategies
Have completed intensive treatment programs but need support integrating their recovery into daily life
Somatic experiencing can also be beneficial for individuals who are new to eating disorder treatment, as it can help establish the nervous system regulation that makes other therapeutic interventions more effective.
Building a Comprehensive Recovery Team
While somatic experiencing can be transformative for eating disorder recovery, it's important to note that comprehensive treatment often involves multiple types of support. Depending on your individual needs, your recovery team might include a primary therapist, psychiatrist, registered dietitian, medical doctor, and other specialists.
As a somatic experiencing therapist & eating disorders counselor in Raleigh, NC, I often work collaboratively with other professionals to ensure clients receive well-rounded care. Somatic work can enhance and support other treatment modalities rather than replacing them entirely.
Ready to Explore Somatic Experiencing for Your Recovery?
If you're curious about how somatic experiencing might support your eating disorder recovery, I invite you to take the first step by reaching out. Getting started is simple and designed to help you feel comfortable and informed about the process.
Step 1: Fill Out the Contact Form Visit my website and complete the brief contact form. This helps me understand your current situation and what you're hoping to address in therapy. Don't worry about having all the answers—just share what feels relevant and authentic to your experience right now.
Step 2: Schedule a Discovery Call Once I receive your contact form, we'll schedule a complimentary 15-20 minute discovery call. This conversation gives us both an opportunity to connect and explore whether somatic experiencing feels like a good fit for your needs. You can ask questions about the approach, share concerns, and get a sense of my therapeutic style. There's no pressure or commitment—this call is simply about gathering information and determining next steps.
Step 3: Begin Your Somatic Journey If we both feel that working together could be beneficial, we'll schedule your first session and begin the gentle process of reconnecting with your body's wisdom. Each session builds on the previous one, creating a gradual expansion of your capacity for self-regulation and embodied awareness.
A New Chapter in Your Recovery Story
Recovery from an eating disorder rarely follows a straight line, and what works at one stage of healing might need to evolve as you grow and change. If traditional therapy has helped you develop important insights and skills but you're still struggling with persistent symptoms or feeling disconnected from your body, somatic experiencing might be the missing piece in your healing puzzle.
Your body holds incredible wisdom about what it needs to heal and thrive. Sometimes we just need the right support and guidance to access that wisdom again. Somatic experiencing offers a gentle, respectful way to rebuild trust with your body and discover new possibilities for recovery that honor both your cognitive understanding and your embodied experience.
The path to full recovery might be different than what you initially imagined, but it's never too late to explore new approaches that could unlock deeper levels of healing. Your body has been waiting patiently for you to come home to it—somatic experiencing can help guide you there.
Looking for an Eating Disorders Counselor Raleigh NC Who Offers More Than Talk Therapy?
If traditional therapy has helped you understand your eating disorder but hasn’t shifted the behaviors or disconnection you feel in your body, you’re not alone. Many people discover that recovery requires more than changing thoughts—it requires addressing how trauma and stress live in the body. Somatic experiencing offers a way to gently restore nervous system balance, release stored survival energy, and reconnect with your body’s natural capacity for healing.
At my Raleigh, NC–based practice, I integrate somatic experiencing with trauma-informed care and eating disorder recovery strategies to help you move beyond insight into embodied change. Together, we’ll create space for your body to feel safe, supported, and capable of trust again.
Whether you’ve felt stuck in recovery, struggled to reconnect with hunger and fullness cues, or carry trauma that keeps you disconnected from your body, I offer both in-person and online therapy to support your healing. Change is possible, and you don’t have to find the way alone.
Learn more about my approach to somatic experiencing and eating disorder recovery.
Begin your journey toward lasting healing—where recovery includes not just your mind, but your body too.
Other Services Offered by Counselor Kate in North Carolina
While eating disorder treatment is central to my work, many people find that full recovery requires more than shifting thoughts—it requires reconnecting with the body itself. At my North Carolina therapy practice, I also offer somatic therapy, trauma-informed care, and intuitive eating support to help you regulate your nervous system, process the effects of trauma, and rebuild trust in your body’s signals. These approaches create space for healing that goes beyond insight alone, helping you feel safer and more grounded in your recovery.
Whether you’re working to reconnect with hunger and fullness cues, untangle trauma responses, or move past the frustration of feeling “stuck” after talk therapy, these services are designed to support you where you are. You can also explore my blog for deeper reflections, practical tools, and ongoing encouragement as you practice integrating body-based healing into your eating disorder recovery.
