Amidst a rapidly shifting sociopolitical landscape, trans and gender expansive (TGE) individuals with eating disorders face heightened vulnerabilities and barriers to care. While research on treatment outcomes for this population remains limited, emerging evidence highlights the crucial role of gender-affirming medical care in reducing eating disorder symptoms and improving quality of life. This presentation will synthesize current scholarship, including recent recommendations for TGE-affirming, weight-inclusive, trauma-informed, and anti-racist approaches to care (Goetz & Wolk, 2023). It will explore what these frameworks can look like in practice, especially in settings where access to care is restricted, with the aim to aid clinicians in navigating evolving policies regarding care. Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives, presenters will discuss evolving models of gender-affirming care, such as clinics that center mental health providers in collaboration with endocrinologists, surgeons, and primary care physicians, and strategies for integrating eating disorder treatment within these systems. Practical tools, including dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills for distress tolerance and radical acceptance, as well as expressive art therapy interventions, will be highlighted as means to support patients in navigating gender dysphoria, cultivating gender euphoria, and building resilience beyond body shape or size. The session will offer both clinical recommendations and creative practices to help providers distinguish between gender dysphoria and body image concerns, foster gender joy in diverse ways, and strengthen coping for patients facing structural, political, and interpersonal barriers to care. Attendees will leave with strategies for advocating and providing affirming, evidence-informed treatment for TGE patients with eating disorders in this challenging time.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify current gaps and emerging evidence in research on eating disorder treatment outcomes for transgender and gender expansive (TGE) individuals, including the role of gender-affirming care in reducing symptoms.

2. Apply principles of TGE-affirming, weight-inclusive, trauma-informed, and anti-racist care in the development of interdisciplinary treatment approaches that address both eating disorder concerns and gender dysphoria.

3. Implement practical clinical strategies, including DBT-informed distress tolerance skills and expressive art therapy activities, that help patients cultivate gender euphoria, differentiate dysphoria from body image concerns, and build resilience within hostile sociopolitical contexts.

Speakers

Cal Mims, Doctoral Cand. (she/they)
Clinical Fellow, Yale Univeristy, University of South Alabama

Wednesdae Reim Ifrach REAT ATR-BC ATCS LPC NCC CLAT RMT (they/them)
Professor, Art Therapist, Moravian University & Rainbow Recovery