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Shantay Williams

As a licensed marriage and family therapist, I provide confidential counseling to help individuals, couples, families, and groups reach their goals. With my Bachelor of Science in Family & Human Development, my Masters Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy, plus years of experience exploring personal and professional relationships, I’m ready to guide you on your path toward greater understanding with an open heart that’s free from judgment.
 
I believe seeking help is a courageous first step toward personal growth and healing. I understand that every individual, couple, and family has unique challenges, and I modify my approach to each client’s needs. Collaboratively, I help my clients identify their strengths and challenges. My goal is to assist clients in gaining insight, finding solutions, and navigating their challenges.
 
I provide guidance, support, and a listening ear to help you with anxiety, depression, relationship issues, or just someone to talk to. I am excited to start your journey toward personal growth and healing.

I look forward to speaking with you!

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Shantay Williams
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Arizona Connection Counseling

Arizona Connection Counseling is a licensed counseling agency with a team of experienced and trained therapists throughout Arizona. We utilize a range of highly researched. clinically proven forms of therapy, including Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), EMDR, and more.
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Eating Disorders - It's Not About the Food

By Kelly Lopez

If it’s not about the food, what is it really about?

The eating disorder serves a function, it does a job. Despite the problems an eating disorder creates, it is an effort to cope, shield against, communicate, and solve problems. Behaviors may be a way to establish a sense of power or control, self-worth, strength, and containment. Bringing may be used to numb pain. Purging may be a way to release emotions. When one cannot cope in healthy ways, adaptive functions (behaviors) are created to ensure a sense of safety, security, and control.
According to Carolyn Costin*, some of the “adaptive functions that eating disorder behaviors commonly serve are”:
  • Comfort, soothing, nurturance
  • Numbing, sedation, distraction
  • Attention, a cry for help
  • Discharge of tension, anger, rebellion
  • Predictability, structure, identity
  • Self-punishment or punishment of "the body"
  • Self-cleansing or self-purification
  • Protection or safety (through creation of a small or large body)
  • Avoidance of intimacy
  • Proof for self-blame instead of blaming others (for exampl, abusers)
It’s not about the food, it’s a way of coping with low self-esteem, negative emotions, physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, unstable home, difficulty resolving conflict and much more.
*Costin, Carolyn. The Eating Disorder Sourcebook: A Comprehensive Guide to the Causes, Treatments and Prevention of Eating Disorders. 3rd. edition, McGraw Hill, 2007.
Fuller, Kristen. “Eating Disorders: It’s Not All about Food.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 22 Mar. 2017

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/happiness-is-state-mind/201703/eating-disorders-it-s-not-all-about-food