What this can feel like
- A relationship to the mirror that's gotten complicated, even when you know better
- Body-related distress that gets worse around clothes shopping, beach plans, holidays, or the doctor's office
- Eating that has gotten more rule-bound, secretive, or distressing over time
- Gender-related body distress that shows up in specific places — chest, voice, hair, hips, body hair, genitals, posture, gait
- A self-narration that's gotten harsher about parts of yourself you didn't choose
- Compulsive checking, comparing, or avoiding (mirrors, photos, certain clothes)
- A history of being told you'd be fine if you just looked different
How therapy can help
Body image work is not pep talks. It is slow, specific, often clinical work on the loops your brain has built around your body and the environment that fed those loops. We work with:
- Cognitive-behavioral and exposure-based approaches — including for body-checking, mirror avoidance, and comparison loops
- Acceptance-based work — for the body distress that doesn't respond to challenging thoughts because the thoughts aren't wrong, the situation is hard
- Gender-affirming body work — including transition-related body distress, which is its own thing and not generic body image work
- Eating concerns — when food, weight, and body image have become tangled, we work with you and refer when an eating disorders specialist is needed
- Trauma-informed approaches — when body distress is the residue of harm
- Coordination with affirming medical providers — primary care, endocrinology, surgical teams when relevant
We do not require body acceptance as the goal. The goal is to live with less daily friction. What that looks like is your call, not ours.
You don't have to figure this out alone
If any of this looks familiar, that's reason enough to reach out. The first conversation is mostly logistics — you don't have to walk in knowing what to call any of it.