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Jennifer Lowell

PhD

CREDENTIALS/DISCIPLINE: Clinical Psychologist, PhD

BOARD CERTIFIED: Yes-Board of Psychology

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
Number of years treating patients with eating disorders: 20+ years

Number of patients with eating disorders I treat annually: 10-15

EDUCATION, TRAINING, and EXPERTISE: I received my PhD in Clinical Psychology from the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology (now known as Palo Alto University) in 1995 and have been a licensed psychologist since 1998. I have specialized in the treatment of individuals with eating disorders since 1998. I have attended numerous eating disorder courses and workshops over the years, been in consultation with eating disorder specialists, been part of eating disorder consultation groups, and read extensively on the subject. I have led eating disorder groups, lectured in the community, and given inservices and training to psychology students on eating disorder subjects.

TREATMENT PHILOSOPHY: Building trust through being genuine and “real” with my clients, and responding in an authentic yet warm manner, is the foundation for all my work. Trust enables clients to open up to the deep and, at times, uncomfortable truths with themselves related to eating disorder symptoms. An assessment is done to identify eating disorder behaviors and symptoms, and goals are created, to gradually replace destructive behaviors with adaptive ones. Metaprocessing, or explicitly discussing with clients what they are experiencing, as they proceed through treatment, is another important part of my treatment approach. Openly addressing how clients perceive what is going on for them, can help clients feel deeply understood, and undo painful feelings of aloneness that can arise during recovery. As some of the eating disorder behaviors become more stable, attention can be focused more on exploring the underlying issues that triggered the development of the eating disorder. The goals of treatment are to help each individual develop an experience of themselves that is worthy and secure, based on who they are on the inside, no longer depending on their body as the means to reassuring their worthiness.

I think it is possible to recover from an eating disorder and view recovery as no longer needing to use one’s body as the means for reassurance of a person’s worthiness or “good enough-ness”. Instead the individual has an experience of themself as worthy enough and secure, based on who they are within. When there is a sufficient experience of this, the individual will no longer be dominated by thoughts about food, weight, body image, exercise, etc., and their mood and behaviors won’t be determined by these things, as well. When uncomfortable feelings or situations do arise, as they do for all of us in life, a recovered person has adaptive means for soothing and reassurance, and does not resort to behaviors that are harmful. One can recover from an eating disorder and still have parts of their body they are not fond of, or foods they are not comfortable with, etc, but their thoughts, feelings and behaviors will not be disrupted by this and the discomfort does not turn into anything distressing. The individual can be accepting of these discomforts but not consumed by them.

FEES: Cash, Personal Checks. Accept CIGNA Insurance. If PPO, patient needs to apply for reimbursement.

INSURANCE: I do take Cigna health insurance for a limited number of my client openings.

  • Contact by phone or e-mail
  • Not wheelchair accessible

LANGUAGES:

  • English
  • Brazilian (little)
  • Portuguese

POPULATION SERVED:

  • Adolescents
  • Adults
  • Athletes
  • Ethnic Minorities
  • Families
  • Females
  • LGBT
  • Males
  • Seniors

CONDITIONS TREATED:

  • Abuse
  • Addictions
  • Affective Disorders
  • Anorexia Nervosa
  • Binge Eating
  • Body Dysmorphic Disorder
  • Bulimia Nervosa
  • Co-Morbidity
  • Compulsive Exercise
  • Night Eating Syndrome
  • NOS (Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified)
  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
  • Overeater
  • Overweight

TREATMENT APPROACHES:

  • Cognitive Behavioral
  • Couples Therapy
  • EMDR
  • Individual Therapy
  • Other – AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy) – an attachment based, emotion focused, very relational based therapeutic approach

TREATMENT SETTINGS:

  • Outpatient
  • Private practice setting