Binge eating
Eating a large amount in a short window with a sense of loss of control, usually in private and followed by shame. Binge eating disorder is the most common eating disorder in the US and one of the least treated.
Disordered eating treatment · Arlington, VA
Outpatient disordered eating treatment in Arlington, Virginia
CBT-E, DBT skills, nutrition counseling, and psychiatric care for binge eating, restriction, purging, compulsive exercise, and body image distress — through PHP, IOP, and outpatient programs for adults in Arlington, Washington, DC, and Northern Virginia.
- Most insurance accepted
- Day & evening IOP tracks
- Telehealth for Virginia residents only
Medically reviewed by the VABH Medical Team
What we treat
Eating patterns we treat
You don't need a diagnosis, a certain weight, or a dramatic story to qualify for help. If food and body take up more of your day than you want them to, that's enough.
Restriction and food rules
Skipping meals, shrinking the list of 'safe' foods, fasting windows used to compensate, and constant mental math around calories or macros. Restriction is what makes binges more likely, not less.
Purging and compensatory behaviors
Vomiting, laxatives, diuretics, or diet pills after eating. These carry real medical risk — electrolyte disturbance, dental and esophageal damage — and warrant medical evaluation, not just therapy.
Compulsive exercise
Training to earn or erase food, panic or guilt on rest days, and pushing through injury or illness. Common in high-achieving DC-area professionals and easy to mistake for discipline.
Body image distress
Mirror checking, body avoidance, constant comparison, and self-worth tracking your weight. The symptom that usually persists longest and needs direct treatment.
Disordered eating alongside substance use
Stimulants, nicotine, or cannabis used to control appetite; restricting to offset calories from alcohol. These patterns feed each other and need to be treated in the same plan.
How we treat disordered eating
Regular eating first, then the beliefs underneath it
Recovery starts with consistent, adequate eating — the single change that quiets binge urges fastest. The deeper work on body image and self-worth follows from there.
CBT-E (enhanced cognitive behavioral therapy)
The leading evidence-based approach for bulimia, binge eating disorder, and OSFED. We work on regular eating, the restrict-binge cycle, and the over-evaluation of shape and weight that keeps it running.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Distress tolerance and emotion regulation skills for eating that functions as a way to manage overwhelming feelings — especially binge and purge urges that hit at night.
Nutrition counseling & meal support
Work with a registered dietitian on regular eating, mechanical structure early on, and gradual reintroduction of feared foods — so the plan is about adequacy, not another set of rules.
Exposure work for feared foods and situations
Structured practice with restaurants, social meals, and specific foods, so avoidance stops narrowing the list of places you can go.
Psychiatric evaluation & medication management
Depression, anxiety, OCD, ADHD, and trauma frequently sit underneath disordered eating. Board-certified evaluation, and our medical staff may prescribe and monitor treatment when it's indicated.
Medical monitoring & coordination
We coordinate with your primary care physician for labs, weight and vitals monitoring, and electrolyte checks — and we escalate promptly when the medical picture calls for a higher level of care.
Family and partner sessions
Household meals, comments about food and bodies, and the urge to police behavior all shape recovery. Sessions give families a role that helps rather than escalates.
Dual-diagnosis care
When disordered eating co-occurs with alcohol, stimulant, or other substance use, treating one alone tends to intensify the other. We address both under one coordinated plan.
Levels of care
Programs from PHP to long-term aftercare
An assessment — including a medical review — determines the right starting level, and you can step up or down as things change.
- 015 days/week · ~6 hrs/day
Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP)
Our most structured outpatient level. Daily therapy and psychiatric oversight for people who are medically stable but need substantial daily structure to interrupt the cycle.
- 023–5 days/week · day or evening
Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)
Several sessions a week of CBT-E, DBT skills, and group work with morning and evening tracks, so treatment fits around work or school in Arlington or DC.
- 03Weekly · ongoing
Outpatient therapy & medication management
Weekly therapy, psychiatric follow-up, and relapse prevention through the stretch when body image and food rules are still loosening.
- 04When more support is needed
Specialty & higher level of care (vetted partners)
Anorexia nervosa with significant medical instability, severe purging with electrolyte disturbance, or a need for residential eating disorder treatment with supervised meals calls for specialty care. We coordinate placement with trusted, vetted providers, take the guesswork out of the handoff, and can pick your care back up on step-down.
Across the river from Maryland
Convenient for Maryland commuters
Our Arlington center is a short drive from Bethesda, Montgomery County, and Prince George's County. Maryland clients regularly attend in-person PHP and IOP here, and evening tracks keep treatment compatible with work or school. Telehealth is available for Virginia residents between in-person visits.
Common questions
Disordered eating questions, answered
What's the difference between disordered eating and an eating disorder?
Disordered eating describes patterns — chronic dieting, food rules, occasional bingeing or compensating — that cause distress without necessarily meeting full diagnostic criteria. An eating disorder is a formal diagnosis such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, ARFID, or OSFED. Both deserve treatment, and disordered eating frequently progresses when it's left alone.
Do I have to be underweight to need treatment?
No. Most people with eating disorders are not underweight, and the medical and psychological risks are just as real across body sizes. Binge eating disorder and bulimia nervosa are both more common than anorexia nervosa.
What conditions do you treat here, and what do you refer out?
We treat binge eating disorder, bulimia nervosa, OSFED, compulsive exercise, and disordered eating patterns in medically stable adults, including when they co-occur with substance use or another mental health condition. Anorexia nervosa with medical instability, severe purging with electrolyte abnormalities, or anyone needing supervised meals and 24-hour monitoring is best served by specialty residential or inpatient eating disorder care — we help arrange that placement with vetted partners.
Do you have a dietitian on the team?
Yes. Nutrition counseling with a registered dietitian is part of the plan, working alongside your therapist and psychiatric provider so the food work and the psychological work stay aligned.
Can eating disorders and addiction be treated at the same time?
Yes, and that's a core strength of our program. Restriction, bingeing, and substance use are often two expressions of the same underlying difficulty with emotion regulation. Treating them in one integrated plan produces better outcomes than sequencing them.
Does insurance cover eating disorder treatment?
Most major commercial plans cover outpatient eating disorder treatment, including PHP and IOP, as a behavioral health benefit. Our admissions team verifies your benefits and gives you an expected cost before you commit to anything, with self-pay options available.
Can I do this by telehealth?
Yes, for Virginia residents — our clinicians are licensed in Virginia, so telehealth sessions are available statewide. Some medical monitoring must happen in person or with your primary care physician. In-person care at our Arlington center is open to Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC residents.
In-person care at 5400 Shawnee Road, Arlington, VA for VA, MD, and DC residents. Telehealth for Virginia residents only.
If you are in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, or call 911. For eating disorder support and referrals, the ANAD Helpline is available at 1-888-375-7767.
Get help today
Talk to someone who's done this before
Whether you're calling for yourself or for someone you love, the first conversation is free and completely confidential.
- Admissions — 24/7(571) 586-2883
- Location5400 Shawnee Road, Arlington, VA
Insurance accepted
Insurance coverage for disordered eating treatment
Outpatient eating disorder and disordered eating care is a covered behavioral health benefit under most commercial plans — Anthem, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare, Optum, Sentara Health Plans, UMR, and Johns Hopkins Health Plans. Send us your card and we'll confirm your PHP, IOP, therapy, nutrition, and psychiatric benefits before you begin.
Don't see your plan? Call us — we also work with out-of-network benefits and self-pay.