Eating Disorders
Get compassionate care for eating disorders including anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating. Dr. Fickey offers therapy and medical support.
Understanding Eating Disorders
Eating disorders are complex conditions that affect both physical and mental health. They involve unhealthy relationships with food, weight, or body image.
Common Types
Anorexia Nervosa
Bulimia Nervosa
Binge Eating Disorder
Common Symptoms
Extreme concern with body weight or shape
Restrictive or binge eating behaviors
Compensatory behaviors such as vomiting or excessive exercise
Emotional distress tied to eating patterns
What Causes Eating Disorders?
Eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder are serious medical and mental health conditions. They develop from a combination of genetic, biological, psychological and social factors rather than a single cause.
Risk factors include a family history of eating disorders or other mental health conditions, perfectionism, anxiety or depression, a history of dieting, trauma, and cultural pressure around weight and appearance. Eating disorders affect people of every age, gender and body size.
How Eating Disorders Are Diagnosed
A psychiatric evaluation explores your eating patterns, your thoughts about food, weight and body image, and any behaviors such as restricting, bingeing or purging. We also screen for anxiety, depression, OCD and other conditions that commonly occur alongside eating disorders.
Because eating disorders can affect the heart, bones, digestion and other organs, we may coordinate with your primary care provider for medical monitoring and lab work as part of a safe, complete plan.
Treatment Approach
At Embracing Life Wellness Center, our care emphasizes:
Comprehensive evaluation and diagnosis
Medication Management and non Medicated options
Support for both individuals and families
Why Early Treatment Matters
Eating disorders rarely resolve on their own, and early treatment leads to better outcomes. Recovery is possible with the right combination of psychiatric care, medication management when appropriate, therapy and nutrition support. Learn more in our guide to choosing eating disorder treatment.
If you or a loved one is struggling with food, weight or body image, Embracing Life Wellness Center can help at our Tampa, Riverview and Coral Gables offices, with telehealth available throughout Florida. Request an appointment to take the first step.
Supporting a Loved One With an Eating Disorder
If you are worried about someone, choose a private, calm moment to share your concerns with compassion, focusing on their feelings and health rather than food, weight or appearance. Avoid blame or ultimatums, and be prepared for denial or defensiveness.
Encourage a professional evaluation and offer to help find care. Family involvement is often a key part of treatment, especially for teens, and caregivers benefit from support and education of their own.
Take the First Step
Recovery is possible. Let us walk with you on the path to healing and self-acceptance.
book your appointment
Our Mental Health & NeuroStar TMS Services
We specialize in psychiatric treatment and TMS therapy for a variety of conditions, including, but not limited to, the following:
NeuroStar Advanced Therapy (TMS)
Embracing Life Wellness Center is proud to offer NeuroStar TMS therapy in-office for depression treatment.
TMS makes long-term remission possible for patients living with depression. Over 3 million treatments have been safely performed by the NeuroStar TMS device and our patients are experiencing significant benefits.
learn more about treatment
Message from Dr. Melissa Fickey
“As the founder of Embracing Life Wellness Center, my vision was to have a practice that offers only high-quality mental health treatment in a caring and compassionate environment, setting the standard
of what patients should expect from their mental health care provider. I am proud to say we have
done just that at Embracing Life Wellness Center, while empowering our patients to embrace their lives to the fullest. We are passionate about mental wellness and we will continue to strive on the path towards excellence, only offering the best mental health treatment for our patients and our community.”
Get In Touch
Our offices are open 24/7 for office visits and TMS treatments.
