Eating Disorder & Body Image Therapy
In Santa Ana and virtually throughout California
If food takes up more mental space than you want it to—if eating feels stressful, emotional, out of control, or loaded with rules—there’s a good chance you’ve been carrying this quietly for a long time. You might look “fine” to other people. You might be high-functioning, competent, and reliable in every area of life… while internally feeling exhausted by food thoughts, body checking, shame, or the constant push-pull of “I’m going to get it together” followed by “I can’t stop.”
A lot of my clients don’t come in saying, “I have an eating disorder.” They come in saying, “My relationship with food and my body doesn’t feel peaceful.” That’s enough. You don’t need a diagnosis to deserve support.
I’m Marissa Honjiyo, a depth-oriented relational therapist specializing in eating disorders, anxiety, and relationship issues. I work from an attachment and relational lens, and I believe healing happens within relationship. My therapy services are offered in-person in Orange County, CA and virtually across California.
This Can Be What You’re Dealing With (Even If You’ve Never Said It Out Loud)
You might recognize yourself in some of these patterns:
Cycles of restriction → overeating/bingeing → shame → “starting over”
Rigid food rules that make you feel safe… until they make you feel trapped
Anxiety eating around others, or a need to control meals and timing
Guilt, self-criticism, or panic after eating
Body checking, comparing, or feeling “at war” with your body
Using food, restriction, or exercise to manage emotions, overwhelm, or numbness
Feeling disconnected from hunger/fullness cues or your body’s signals
If your relationship with food or your body feels heavy, confusing, consuming, or shame-filled, that matters. You don’t have to wait until it’s “bad enough.”
Eating Concerns Are Often About More Than Food
One of the most relieving (and confronting) truths in this work is: disordered eating is rarely just about eating.
For many people, food becomes a tool for coping with deeper emotional experiences—anxiety, perfectionism, trauma, control, self-worth, loneliness, or emotional disconnection.
From an attachment and relational lens, the question becomes:
What did food/exercise/control start doing for you?
What does it protect you from feeling?
What does it protect you from needing?
What would it mean to let go of the strategy—emotionally, relationally, identity-wise?
This is why “just eat normally” (or “just stop”) tends to backfire. If the behavior is serving a protective function, removing it without addressing what it’s holding can feel like free-falling.
Eating Disorders & Body Image in Asian American Women
Eating disorders are not uncommon among Asian American women, even though they are often underrecognized and rarely talked about openly. Research has found rates of disordered eating among Asian American women that are comparable to White women, yet stereotypes about who “looks like” someone with an eating disorder can make it easier for symptoms to go unnoticed.
For many Asian American women, food and body image can also be complicated by family and culture. Maybe relatives have commented on your weight for as long as you can remember. Maybe losing weight is praised without anyone asking how you did it. Maybe being disciplined about food, eating less, or staying thin is treated as something positive—even when your relationship with food is becoming increasingly rigid or stressful. Research with Asian American women has found that family comments, pressure around appearance, and cultural ideals about thinness can meaningfully shape body image and eating behaviors.
It can be hard to talk openly about food and body image, especially when those experiences feel private, vulnerable, or tied to family and cultural expectations. You may have gotten used to keeping those thoughts to yourself or brushing them off because they seem so normal. But your relationship with your body matters.
As a fifth-generation Japanese American therapist, I have a particular interest in working with Asian American women around eating disorders, disordered eating, and body image, while recognizing that no two cultural or family experiences look the same.
My Approach: Attachment-Based, Relational Eating Disorder Therapy
I’m not here to police your food. I’m not here to hand you a meal plan. And I’m not here to reduce your experience to a checklist.
My work is relational, depth-oriented, and attachment-informed. Over time, we build enough safety to be honest about what’s happening, stay curious rather than critical, and understand the “why” beneath what keeps repeating—so change becomes possible in a lasting way.
Here’s what that often looks like in eating disorder and body image therapy:
Slowing down the cycle without shaming you
Instead of treating the behavior like the enemy, we get specific about the pattern: triggers, emotions, sensations, thoughts, relational contexts, and the “after” (shame, relief, numbness, resolve, fear).
Working with the parts of you involved
Most people have competing parts: the part that wants control, the part that wants relief, the part that’s terrified of change, the part that’s tired of living like this, the part that believes worth is something you earn. Therapy gives those parts language—and a new relationship with you.
Exploring the attachment roots
Attachment work matters here because eating struggles often intensify when connection feels unsafe: conflict, loneliness, fear of being judged, feeling too much, feeling not enough, feeling out of control in relationship. For some people, food and body image struggles are closely tied to relationships, closeness, and the fear of how they are seen. In therapy, we explore how your early relationships shaped your nervous system’s strategies for safety and worthiness.
Using the therapy relationship as part of the healing
Relational therapy means we pay attention to what shows up between us: what’s hard to admit, what you expect I’ll think, what you minimize, what you fear will make you “too much.” Over time, being met with steadiness and respect—especially around shame—can be a corrective emotional experience.
Coordinating care & referring to a higher level of care when needed
Eating disorders can have serious medical risk. Best practice guidelines emphasize appropriate assessment and, when indicated, coordinated care (often including medical monitoring and nutrition support) alongside psychotherapy.
If you’re medically unstable, actively purging, fainting, or in acute danger, therapy alone may not be the right starting point—and we’ll talk about that candidly.
Therapeutic Approaches I Use
Relational / Attachment-Based Therapy
Many eating disorder patterns are not just about food—they’re shaped by the attachment system: fear of being too much, fear of needing, perfectionism, people-pleasing, shame, and the belief that worth has to be earned. Attachment-based work helps us understand the emotional and relational roots so recovery isn’t just behavioral—it’s internal.
Brainspotting
I’m also trained in Brainspotting (Level I), which I may incorporate when it feels useful for working with shame, body-based distress, or experiences that are difficult to access through talking alone.
Body Image Therapy That Doesn’t Turn Into Another Project
Body image work isn’t about forcing yourself to love your body overnight. It’s about changing your relationship to your body—especially if your default relationship is criticism, monitoring, avoidance, or control.
In therapy, body image work often includes:
Noticing when self-criticism shows up (and what it’s protecting)
Separating your worth from your appearance
Learning how to tolerate discomfort without escalating into restriction/bingeing/compensation
Unpacking the roles diet culture, perfectionism, and comparison play in your nervous system
Building attunement: hunger/fullness, emotion/body signals, rest, safety
Who This Work Tends to Fit Best
Eating disorder and body image therapy may be a good fit if you’re:
High-functioning on the outside, struggling privately with food/body shame
Tired of “starting over” and living under rules
Stuck in cycles of restriction, bingeing, overeating, or compensatory behaviors
Dealing with perfectionism, anxiety, or trauma that feeds the eating pattern
Wanting a therapy relationship that’s direct, respectful, and not shaming
A More Honest Goal Than “Just Stop the Behavior”
A more honest goal is this:
to stop needing the eating disorder to feel safe.
That can look like:
Less mental noise about food and your body
More flexibility and fewer rules
Fewer shame spirals and less self-criticism
More ability to feel emotions without defaulting to control or avoidance
A more trusting relationship with your body (even if it’s imperfect)
More room for relationships, work, and actual living
Therapy in Santa Ana + Virtual Eating Disorder Therapy in California
I offer therapy in-person in Santa Ana, CA and virtually across California, which can make consistency easier if you have a demanding schedule or prefer the privacy and flexibility of telehealth.
If you’ve been holding it together for a long time, therapy can be the place where you don’t have to.
FAQ: Eating Disorder & Body Image Therapy
Do I need a diagnosis to start therapy?
No. If food, eating, or body image feels consuming or distressing, that’s reason enough to get support.
What kinds of eating concerns do you work with?
Disordered eating patterns (restriction, bingeing/overeating, compensatory behaviors), chronic dieting and food guilt, body image distress, perfectionism-driven eating rules, and eating concerns intertwined with anxiety, trauma, and relationship patterns. (If a higher level of care is needed, we’ll talk about it.)
Will you tell me what to eat?
Therapy with me is not nutrition counseling. We focus on the emotional and relational roots, shame reduction, and building a more attuned relationship with your body. If you’d benefit from nutrition support, I can encourage coordination with a dietitian as part of a broader care team.
Is recovery actually possible?
Yes—eating disorder recovery is possible with appropriate support and treatment. The work is rarely linear, but change is real.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
If you’re tired of living in the same cycle—if you’re longing for a more peaceful relationship with food and your body—therapy can help. You don’t have to do this alone.
A consultation is a first conversation to clarify what you’re experiencing, what you want help with, and whether this approach feels like a fit. Book a free 15-minute consultation here.