Dr. Guttorm Toverud

Ph.D. in Counseling and Counselor Education; Addictions, Masters; Agency Counseling Dr. Guttorm Toverud has a Ph.D. in Counselor Education from the University of North Carolina and a master’s degree in Agency Counseling from Appalachian State University. He specializes in teaching that recovery from food addiction is possible using a 12-step program having conducted workshops for 30 years with more than 10,000 participants. Dr. Toverud trains professionals to treat food addicts with a clinical approach by using one of the most published books in history, the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous as a textbook. While he acknowledges that the 12 steps of recovery are important, his academic approach in training focuses on the first 63 pages of this book which clearly outline instructions around the problem and the solution. Dr. Toverud says addicts come to treatment not for the addiction itself, but because of the negative consequences of the addiction. In the case of food addiction, this can be obesity-related problems and illnesses and/or compulsions and obsessions with food and food behaviors. In the case of addiction, he urges that it cannot be controlled until we follow the instructions and do not start using the offending substance or behavior.