Trauma and Eating Disorders: How are They Connected?
I define trauma as an event that overwhelms our ability to cope or faced alone. Or it might be a series of events or interactions that occur for too long, or not receiving enough of something good (like nuturance). In order to survive these events, both physically and emotionally, we develop strategies to help us cope.
For many people, these strategies involve how we related to food and our body.
If you’ve ever noticed that eating feels complicated, or that your body feels like something you can’t trust, you’re not alone. Trauma can live in the body and often, it shows up through our relationship with it.
Understanding the Connection Between Trauma and Eating
When something painful happens and we don’t have enough support to process it, our nervous system holds onto that stress.
Your body develops strategies to help you survive, sometimes by shutting down hunger cues if in hyperviligence, heightening control, or disconnecting you from sensations altogether.
That can lead to patterns like:
Restricting food as a way to feel safe or in control
Using food for comfort or numbness when emotions feel too big
Feeling disconnected from hunger or fullness signals
Struggling with guilt or shame around eating
Having an inner critic that’s harsh about your body
These are ways your body knew how to help you survive back then, even if they are hurting you now.
Trauma and Body Image: When the Body Feels Unsafe
For people who’ve experienced trauma, the body can sometimes be a trigger of past pain.
Maybe being connected with your body now brings uncomfortable or scary sensations, memories, or overwhelming emotions.
You might find yourself criticizing your body, avoiding mirrors, or constantly trying to “fix” yourself because working at you body feels easier than being in your body..
Underneath, there’s often a longing to feel safe, worthy, and at home in your body again.
When we start to see body image struggles below the surface level as protective responses, healing can begin.
How Therapy Helps You Heal Your Relationship With Food and Body
Trauma-informed therapy helps you reconnect with your body’s signals in a safe and supported way.
We listen to what those protective parts of you are trying to shield you from and help resource them so they can put the armour down.
In therapy, we might:
Explore the experiences or beliefs that shaped how you see food and your body
Learn grounding and regulation tools to feel safer in your body
Reconnect with hunger, fullness, and pleasure
Heal shame, perfectionism, and self-criticism
Use EMDR therapy or somatic awareness to gently process body-based memories
Healing isn’t about “fixing” your eating, it’s about restoring trust with yourself.
Relearning Safety in Your Body
For many people, recovery needs to be more than changing your eating behaviors; it needs to include tools to feel safe inside your body again. That takes
.Through trauma-informed eating disorder therapy, you can begin to:
Reconnect with your body’s wisdom
Feel grounded rather than guarded
Nourish yourself without guilt or fear
See your body as a partner, not an enemy
Taking the First Step
If any of this feels familiar, if food feels stressful, or your body feels like something you can’t trust, that’s reason enough to reach out.
You don’t have to have everything “figured out” to begin healing.
Therapy can help you reconnect with the parts of yourself that learned to survive and invite them into healing.
If you’re looking for trauma-informed eating disorder therapy in Seattle, WA, or anywhere in Washington or Massachusetts via telehealth, I’d be honored to walk alongside you.
You deserve to feel at home in your body and at peace with food again.
