“Physicians and nutritionists can be of great help to the biblical counselor in caring for someone with an eating disorder. In fact, their support regarding the patient’s health and food needs allows a biblical counselor more freedom to spend the time in counseling appointments on what we do best—tending to the heart issues underneath the symptoms.”

As a biblical counselor, I meet with many people whose lives, hearts, and minds are controlled by an obsession with food. Whether anorexia, bulimia, or binge-eating, disordered eating patterns are very common among my counselees, and I’ve found that often they need professional assistance beyond what I alone can provide.

Now, hear me out. I believe there are many counseling issues we biblical counselors can face without additional help from other trained medical professionals. That said, eating disorders, in my opinion, are simply not of that category. After working with many anorexic and bulimic individuals, I have come to respect, and indeed mandate, a team approach to their care.

A Three-Pronged Approach

It was actually my supervisor, Deepak Reju, who was the first to suggest I utilize what he called a “three-pronged approach” in caring for counselees with eating disorders. “What are these three prongs?” you ask. They are:

1. Biblical counselor,

2. Medical physician, and

3. Nutritionist.

I now live by these three prongs when I counsel folks with eating disorders. The additional support has served me well as a counselor, and more importantly has served my counselees.

Why the Extra Help?

On our best days, I like to think of biblical counselors as “specialists” when it comes to unearthing and tackling heart issues. We do this by God’s grace—through His Spirit, by His Word, and in His church. And please hear me that I am well aware that eating disorders are fraught with many heart issues: control, escape, body image distortion, anxiety, depression, distrust of God, confusion about God’s character, fear of man, and the list could go on and on. This list only begins to describe all the important themes that a biblical counselor can and should unpack with someone who struggles with an eating disorder.

Is this enough, though? When a woman is abusing her physical body through either deprivation or binging of food, is processing heart issues the only help she needs? I can tell you that, from my experience, the answer is “No.”

In fact here are just a few of the ways a physician and nutritionist have come to my aid in counseling folks with eating disorders in the past.

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