This chapter presents a case study of a sensorimotor psychotherapy (SP) approach to eating disorder (ED) treatment. In contrast to traditional psychotherapeutic approaches, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), that lean heavily on the impact of thoughts on emotional experiences and somatic patterns, also known as top-down processing, SP also uses bottom-up processing, the effect that one’s somatic organization has on affect and affect regulation, cognitive functioning and specific beliefs about self and other. The very core of SP is four foundational principles that cultivate therapeutic presence and guide both content and quality of interventions: organicity, nonviolence, unity, body/mind/spirit holism. SP understands human experience through the lens of five core organizers: thoughts, emotions, and three somatic organizers. SP explores actions as a cycle with four stages: clarity, effectiveness, satisfaction, and relaxation.

This chapter provides a brief description on trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and eating disorders (EDs). CBT has proven to be the most well-supported approach for EDs in the empirical research. It is considered the first-line “treatment of choice” for individuals diagnosed with bulimia nervosa and recommended for the treatment of anorexia nervosa (AN), atypical EDs, and binge eating disorders (BED). Furthermore, multiple studies have demonstrated the efficacy of using CBT for post-traumatic stress disorder and trauma symptoms. CBT for EDs is approximately 20 sessions for treating bulimia nervosa or BED, whereas treatment for anorexia nervosa can require a much longer treatment, typically lasting 1 to 2 years. Addressing trauma work will add to the number of sessions. CBT for EDs and for trauma can be done concurrently or sequenially. Deciding on the format can be done on the basis of clinical presentation and in collaboration with the client.