Eating Disorder Therapy
It is not always obvious when someone has an eating disorder as they can take many forms, for example: restricting food intake; bingeing and/or purging; over-eating; or a compulsion to exercise. What all eating disorders have in common though is that food and the body are being used as a way to cope with difficult thoughts and feelings: for instance, feelings of depression; anxiety; lack of confidence and self-esteem; feelings of emptiness and ‘what’s the point’; loneliness and isolation; and dissatisfaction with one’s body.
Eating Disorders require treatment from a specialist psychotherapist trained specifically in understanding eating disorders, and in helping you learn to live without your eating disorder. Eating disorder therapy involves addressing the eating disorder from two directions. The first is to encourage you to begin slowly taking practical steps to address the disordered eating – and replace these habits with a structured and carefully thought out meal plan. Dietetic input from a specialist eating disorder dietitian may be necessary to help with this.
The second is to look at the difficult thoughts and feelings underlying the eating disorder. Once these thoughts and feelings can be known about and understood, new, more effective ways of coping with them can be sought – rather than the old, familiar way of using food and the body to manage the difficult feelings.
Other conditions often accompany eating disorders, such as self-harm and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. These additional conditions may need to be addressed alongside the eating disorder.