What Is CBT

What Is CBT?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one of the most effective and widely used therapies for eating disorders. It focuses on identifying and challenging unhelpful thought patterns, emotions, and behaviors that contribute to disordered eating.

CBT helps clients recognize how negative self-talk, rigid food rules, or distorted body image perceptions fuel eating disorder symptoms — and empowers them to replace those thoughts with healthier, more balanced ones.

At Virtue Recovery, CBT is integrated into individualized treatment plans for anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, ARFID, diabulimia, and other eating disorders.

5 Benefits of CBT for Eating Disorders

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Challenges Harmful Thought Patterns

CBT helps individuals recognize distorted thinking about food, body image, and self-worth. By reframing these thoughts, clients develop healthier and more balanced perspectives.

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Reduces Disordered Behaviors

Therapy provides practical tools to replace unhealthy eating habits with positive alternatives. Over time, these changes encourage consistency and support long-term recovery.

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Improves Emotional Regulation

CBT teaches coping skills for managing stress, anxiety, and depression without resorting to disordered behaviors. These skills empower individuals to handle challenges more effectively.

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Prevents Relapse

By building strategies for recognizing triggers and unhealthy patterns, CBT helps prevent relapse. Clients gain the tools to maintain recovery even during stressful times.

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Supports Holistic Healing

CBT promotes overall well-being by fostering healthier self-esteem, relationships, and lifestyle habits. This holistic approach supports both emotional and physical healing.

Do I Have an Eating Disorder?

If you’re concerned about your symptoms, click below to take our eating disorders quiz.

What to Expect From CBT

  • Cognitive Restructuring
    CBT helps challenge and reframe unhelpful beliefs about food, body image, and self-worth. By replacing distorted thoughts with balanced perspectives, clients build a healthier mindset.

  • Behavioral Experiments
    Clients are encouraged to test out new behaviors, such as eating a feared food, in a safe and supportive environment. These exercises gradually reduce anxiety and promote lasting change.

  • Mindfulness Training
    Mindfulness techniques increase awareness of thoughts and emotions without judgment. This practice helps clients respond more calmly and effectively to stressful situations.

  • Skill-Building for Coping
    CBT provides tools for managing triggers, stress, and emotional challenges. These strategies replace harmful behaviors with healthier, more sustainable responses.

  • Relapse Prevention Planning
    A personalized plan is developed to help clients recognize early warning signs of relapse. With clear strategies in place, recovery is strengthened and better maintained.

  • Goal-Oriented Progress
    CBT sessions are structured around achievable, step-by-step goals tailored to each client’s needs. This focus on measurable progress keeps recovery on track and builds confidence.

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Luxury Treatment and CBT

Virtue Recovery offers CBT in a luxury environment designed for healing. With private accommodations, chef-prepared meals, and holistic therapies, clients receive the best in evidence-based care within a serene and supportive atmosphere.

Our approach blends clinical expertise with restorative amenities, creating a safe space where individuals can focus fully on recovery. By combining world-class treatment with comfort and care, we help clients restore balance to both body and mind.

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Our Las Vegas Luxury Inpatient Eating Disorder Treatment Center

In our inpatient program, clients participate in daily CBT sessions along with nutritional counseling, medical monitoring, and holistic therapies. This intensive approach provides the structure and support needed for deep, lasting change.

Our Las Vegas Outpatient Eating Disorder Treatment Center

Our outpatient program offers flexible scheduling for CBT therapy, making it ideal for clients stepping down from inpatient care or managing recovery while balancing work, school, or family.

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Our Las Vegas Adolescent / Teen Inpatient Eating Disorder Treatment Center

CBT is especially effective for teens with eating disorders, helping them challenge distorted thoughts and develop age-appropriate coping skills.

Frequently Asked Questions About CBT

It targets the negative thinking patterns and rigid beliefs that drive eating disorder behaviors, helping clients build healthier coping strategies.

Yes. CBT has proven effective for anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, ARFID, and other eating disorders.

Many clients begin noticing improvements within weeks, but long-term recovery often requires ongoing therapy.

Absolutely. At Virtue Recovery, CBT is often combined with DBT, family therapy, and holistic approaches.

Glossary of Terms for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

A therapy that helps change negative thought patterns and behaviors.

Identifying and challenging distorted beliefs.

Testing new behaviors to replace disordered ones.

Awareness of thoughts and emotions without judgment.

Strategies to maintain recovery after treatment.

24/7 residential care with intensive therapy.

Flexible therapy sessions while living at home.

Counseling sessions that involve loved ones in recovery.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT helps clients identify and reframe negative thought patterns that lead to disordered eating behaviors.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

DBT equips individuals with skills in emotional regulation, mindfulness, and distress tolerance to reduce self-destructive eating behaviors.

Motivational Interviewing (MI)

MI fosters intrinsic motivation for recovery by helping clients resolve ambivalence and set meaningful goals.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

ACT guides clients to accept difficult emotions while taking committed actions aligned with their values and recovery.

Family-Based Therapy (FBT)

FBT empowers families, particularly for adolescents, to take an active role in restoring healthy eating and supporting long-term recovery.

Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT)

IPT addresses how relationship challenges, grief, or life transitions contribute to eating disorders and promotes healthier social functioning.

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)

ERP reduces food-related anxiety by helping clients gradually confront feared foods and break avoidance patterns.

Meal Support Therapy

Structured mealtime support provides a safe environment to help clients relearn normal eating patterns and reduce food-related fear.

Nutritional Counseling

Licensed dietitians work closely with clients to develop balanced, individualized meal plans and restore healthy nutritional habits.

Group Therapy

Group therapy fosters peer support, shared healing, and community connection throughout the recovery journey.

Art Therapy

Art therapy offers a nonverbal outlet for exploring emotions, trauma, and body image issues through creative expression.

Music Therapy

Music therapy engages clients in healing through sound, rhythm, and songwriting to promote emotional release and relaxation.

Meditation Therapy

Meditation therapy promotes mindfulness, self-awareness, and inner calm, helping clients manage anxiety and stay grounded.

Yoga Therapy

Yoga therapy enhances body awareness, self-acceptance, and emotional balance through movement, breathwork, and mindfulness.

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