Dr. Farber is a Board Certified Diplomate in Clinical Social Work. She maintains a private practice in psychotherapy with children, adolescents, and adults in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. She can help with problems around moods, anxiety, relationships, divorce, concerns about school or work. She is the founder of Westchester Eating Disorders Consultation Services. Other special interests are self-injury and other mind-body problems, cult involvement, and creativity.
Education: BA, Barnard College; MSW, Hunter College School of Social Work; PhD, New York University School of Social Work.
Professional Training: Dr. Farber trained at the Institute for the Study of Psychotherapy and privately in psychoanalysis, child treatment, and eating disorders.
She has taught at medical schools,
schools of social work, and training institutes, and is on faculty at the
Cape Cod Institute where she teaches a week-long summer course on treatment of
patients who harm themselves.
Read a
transcript of an on-line
interview with her about eating problems and self-injury. Instructions: under information, click on transcripts, then either self-injury or eating disorders, then Dr. Sharon K. Farber.
She is the author of several publications, including a book, When the Body Is the Target: Self-Harm, Pain, and Traumatic Attachments (Jason Aronson/Rowman & Littlefield, 2000, 2002. To order book on publisher's site, at quick search enter Sharon Farber, press enter). She is currently at work on a second book about ecstatic experience.
Office: 142 Edgars Lane,
Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706
Telephone: 914.478.1924
Do you often find yourself . . .
- Thinking "fat thoughts" and talking "fat talk"? Seeing yourself as fat and ugly?
- Preoccupied with food and eating?
- Compelled to eat, starve, exercise, purge or otherwise harm yourself?
- Hiding food, laxatives or diet pills from others? Becoming more secretive about your eating behavior? Isolating yourself?
- Concerned that other aspects of your life seem to be out of control (drugs, alcohol, self-injury, sex, shopping, shoplifting, painful relationships)?
- Living more with pain than with pleasure?
- Worried about dizziness, heart palpitations, weakness, bleeding, lack of periods?
- Concerned that someone you care about, child or adult, may have a problem with food?
You may wonder . . .
- How do I know that my therapist has the special understanding about my eating problems that I need?
- How can I find a therapist who will respect my wishes and not try to control me?
- With everyone trying to become thin, how can I be sure I really do have an eating or body image problem?
- Should I have weight loss surgery?
- How do I know if I need individual, group, or family therapy? Nutritional counseling? Medication?
- Am I in any medical danger? What can I do to protect myself if I am, even if I am not ready to give up my eating behavior?
Considering Weight Loss Surgery?
Many people who are considerably
overweight are considering having bariatric or weight loss surgery as a remecy of last resort.
Candidates for this surgery are carefully apprised of the medical risks
involved, but I have found that they may not be so well apprised of the
psychological risks. If your obesity is caused in part by a problem with
compulsive overeating or binge eating, you may find that the surgery
alone is not a total solution to your eating and weight problem. If you
have an eating problem, you probably use food for emotional reasons, to
help you to feel better when you are feeling bad. After surgery, even
though your stomach’s capacity will be much smaller, your cravings and
impulses to eat may remain much the same. Without the capacity to consume
so much as you have become accustomed to, the emotions that arise can become
difficult to tolerate or even overwhelming. If you eat as you are
used to, you may even "blow out" the stapling or banding.
If you are
considering bariatric surgery, I can provide consultation and evaluation
prior to surgery to help you to anticipate what you might experience
emotionally after surgery. For many people, pre-surgical and post-surgical
treatment for an eating problem can go a long way in making for a much
better long-range outcome of the surgery. When considering something as
life-altering as bariatric surgery, you will probably want to do whatever
you can to ensure its success.
For further information about weight loss surgery, see my article, A Magic Bullet: Understanding the Medical and Psychological Risks.