Dr. Rhona Epstein (Psy.D., CAC) is a licensed psychologist, certified addictions counselor, and marriage and family therapist. She has been helping people overcome addiction and eating disorders for almost thirty years, but her experiences with addiction began with a personal battle with food and addiction at age seventeen.

As a teenager, Rhona battled binge eating, secret eating, and ballooning weight with fad diets and weight loss centers. The food insanity continued, however, and her frustration turned to depression until she joined a support group for overeaters and realized she wasn’t alone. Addressing her addiction to certain foods, especially sugar, unearthed the emotions and thoughts that acted as triggers for binge eating. Her recovery from food addiction was a physical, emotional, and spiritual journey. The result has been true freedom from her food triggers and a desire to help others escape the “food insanity” she understands firsthand.

Dr. Rhona earned her master’s degree in counseling psychology from Temple University (Philadelphia, PA). Early in her career she worked with individuals and families facing drug and alcohol addictions in both inpatient and outpatient treatment centers. Her goal was simple: to learn from chemical dependency treatment practices and apply those same ideas to helping people with addictive eating problems.

In 1988 Epstein completed her marriage and family therapy training program through the Council for Relationships, University of Pennsylvania. She felt that understanding the underlying emotional and relational aspects of addiction would greatly benefit someone on the road to recovery. She also began working with people who were struggling with unhealthy relationships and helping them to heal past wounds, forgive those who had hurt them, develop open and honest communication, become more assertive, and set healthy boundaries.

Since 1994 Dr. Rhona has been providing individual, couples, family, and group psychotherapy in Paoli, PA. She has expanded her practice to include a wide range of issues but still specializes in treating those with addictions and eating disorders. Depending on the client, Dr. Rhona integrates either 12-step recovery principles or biblically-based spirituality in therapy.

Dr. Rhona received her doctorate in clinical psychology from Chestnut Hill College (Philadelphia, PA) in 2009. Her first book is  .