Anita Johnston

Dr. Anita Johnston is a depth psychologist, author, and internationally recognized expert in eating psychology. Raised in a multi-ethnic family on the island of Guam, she was deeply influenced by a lineage of strong women leaders who used storytelling as a powerful tool for teaching, healing, and social change. This early foundation shaped her lifelong belief that when we recognize suffering or imbalance, we are called to respond with awareness and action.

In the early 1980s, after recognizing a critical lack of resources for women struggling with eating disorders in Hawaii, she co-founded the Anorexia & Bulimia Center of Hawaii. Through decades of clinical work, she discovered that beneath disordered eating often lies a profound sensitivity, intuition, and perceptiveness that had been misunderstood or dismissed. Drawing from archetypal psychology, indigenous wisdom, and modern neuroscience, Dr. Johnston developed a symbolic, story-based approach to healing. She is the author of Eating in the Light of the Moon, published in seven languages, and the founder of Ai Pono Hawaii and the Light of the Moon Café. Her work continues to illuminate the deeper emotional and cultural roots of our struggles with food, creativity, and self-expression.