Counselling for Eating Disorders

Are You Worried About Your Eating?

Is food a problem rather than a pleasure?

Do you have issues with the way your body looks?

You are not alone in having concerns about your appearance.

We all worry about not being perfect, about the little imperfections that confront us everyday when we look in the mirror or try on those skinny jeans in a fashionable boutique.

For many young women body image is a huge issue. With the rise of social media and the dominance of air brushed and filtered bodies, there is more and more pressure to look a certain way.

Without these common concerns, the diet and wellness industries would go bankrupt.

Most people have tried a diet at least once in their lives – and the reality is that in most cases that diet will fail. We tend to blame ourselves for what is really a problem with the fundamental assumptions underlying dieting as a way to control weight.

But for some people eating, diet, weight, food and exercise become obsessions that can tip them into the problematic realm of an eating disorder.

They might start by counting calories and restricting certain foods. Some will overeat, losing touch with their bodies and their real needs and feelings of fullness. Others will get stuck in a dangerous cycle of bingeing and vomiting.

Eating disorders can prevent young people from exploring and enjoying everything that life has to offer and can threaten a young person’s wellbeing and in extreme cases, their life.

If this is you – or someone you love, don't panic!

Recovery From an eating disorder is possible.

Although eating disorders can be hard to treat, there is hope.

With the help of a caring and experienced psychotherapist, you can learn to value yourself, love your body and enjoy food again.

Eating disorders are not just about food and eating.

Most people diagnosed with anorexia will also be highly anxious perfectionists, desperate to control and achieve. People with bulimia are often emotional eaters, trying to suppress feelings of anger or sadness with food.

The act of eating for people with these disorders becomes loaded with emotional content far beyond its role in nurturing our bodies.

The unhealthy obsessions that are a part of eating disorders often take us away from what we really value in life. They can stop us from having the relationships or friendships we want, from making good decisions about our vocation and from getting on with colleagues at school or work. Most of all, they can prevent us from being comfortable with ourselves.

Psychotherapy can help untangle the mess of feelings that have caused the behaviours associated with eating disorders. By gently exploring the underlying issues, a caring and empathetic psychotherapist will help you understand yourself and the reasons for your fraught relationship with food.

Your emotions are important.

That is why in treating you I will be helping you to understand yourself, developing self-awareness that will allow you to validate and process your feelings so that you no longer need to use food to punish or reward yourself or to control your emotions.

You May Still Have Some Questions about Coming to Therapy

I Don’t think Im really sick, how do I know I need therapy?

It is common to underestimate just how much disordered eating can take over our lives. Thats why it is important to seek treatment and be assessed prior to the behaviours becoming entrenched.

I understand that therapy can feel like a big step. It can seem like an admission of failure - and also like you are giving up on your ability to heal yourself. But eating disorder treatment with me will help you tap into your own natural strengths, and your ability to nurture yourself.

All therapy is designed to augment the client’s own resources and to eventually give them the tools to heal themselves. Choosing to undertake therapy is not an admission of failure or a transfer of power to someone else. It is a life-affirming choice which says that you are ready to look after yourself and prioritise your wellbeing.

i am worried that if I stop restricting my food intake I will put on weight.

This is a common fear.

Psychotherapy will help you tune into your feelings and your body.

Once you have learnt to listen to your body, you will feel more able to eat normally and to value your natural responses to food. This may lead to some weight gain, but once you have reached your natural “set point” you will tend to stay there.

Eating in response to your body’s signals will put you in good stead to maintain a healthy weight throughout life. Once you can give up the need to control, you will find that life unfolds as more joyful, and the energy you previously expended on food, exercise or dieting will be released into other areas of life.

Ive tried a lot of things, how do I know psychotherapy will help me?

There are other treatments out there - as well as lots of advice. But unless you work on the root cause of your skewed relationship to food and eating, recovery will continue to elude you.

Psychotherapy for eating disorders works by confronting the underlying issues that are causing your unhealthy relationship with food. That is why it can succeed where other treatments might fail.

For most people, an eating disorder is just the surface manifestation of underlying anxiety and low self-esteem. Therapy with me will help you heal by exploring and renewing your relationship to yourself, your emotions - and your body.

Psychotherapy will help restore a healthy relationship with food, eating and nurturing yourself. It will help you to rediscover your authentic self – your joy and creativity – and your natural appetite for food - and life.

I can work this out for myself, why should i have therapy?

Often people who need it are reluctant to come to therapy - for many reasons. But the reality is that untangling the root causes of problematic eating behaviours is not something that you will be able to resolve on your own.

An experienced and empathetic psychotherapist will help you process some of the difficult emotions associated with your eating behaviours and will support and guide you through the journey of developing self-awareness.

Some of these emotions will be challenging - that is why a containing and empathetic presence is necessary to help you feel safe and to uncover the more difficult feelings that have been suppressed or rerouted through eating behaviours.