Patterson Looks at Eating Disorders through CBT Lens

Traditional eating disorder treatments have a blind spot, and College of Education (COE) alumna Shannon Patterson is shining a light on it.

Alongside fellow clinical psychologists Jennifer Averyt and Lauren Muhlheim, Patterson has released The Weight-Inclusive CBT Workbook for Eating Disorders. The workbook isn't just a guide; it’s a new approach that prioritizes healing over thinness.

Patterson and her co-authors noticed a recurring, systemic failure in how treatment of eating disorders has been approached by medical professionals.

"Too often, the work seemed centered on reassuring people that they aren’t fat or won’t get fat," Patterson says. "As if recovery were only possible if weight stigma didn’t apply to them personally. This is missing the real issue."

Patterson argues that by trying to distance patients from the "threat" of being fat, clinicians inadvertently reinforce the idea that being fat is a negative outcome to be feared—thereby fueling the very disorder they are trying to treat.

The workbook's approach shifts the focus from body checking and calorie counting to dismantling the internal and societal biases that maintain disordered eating.

"We can’t heal eating disorders until it is safe to be fat," Patterson asserts.

By "making it safe to be fat," the authors call for an end to the medical bias and social discrimination that leaves people in larger bodies marginalized. According to Patterson, true recovery requires challenging weight stigma both within the patient and across society at large.

While the road to systemic change is long, Patterson sees a shift on the horizon. She notes a growing wave of healthcare providers and students who are no longer willing to accept the status quo.

"I'm hopeful," she shares. "I work with providers who are actively challenging these biases. We’re finally headed in the right direction."

For those struggling with body image or disordered eating, the Weight-Inclusive CBT Workbook offers a new path forward—one where the goal isn't just thinness, but liberation from the stigma that keeps so many trapped.