EATING DISORDERS
Eating disorders are serious mental health conditions that affect a person’s relationship with food, body image, and self-worth. They can impact anyone – regardless of age, gender, or background – and often involve harmful behaviours such as restricting food, overeating, or purging.
Early recognition and treatment are crucial. With the right support, recovery is possible.
What Is an Eating Disorder?
An eating disorder is a psychological condition characterized by unhealthy or disturbed eating habits, often driven by intense concerns about body weight, shape, or food. These behaviours can cause serious physical and emotional harm and may become life-threatening if left untreated.
Eating disorders are not about vanity or a lifestyle choice—they are complex illnesses often linked to emotional distress, trauma, low self-esteem, or social pressures. Eating disorders are often experienced alongside or mental distress such as anxiety, depression, self-harm, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), or neurodivergence, sometimes called “co-morbidities”.
Common Types of Eating Disorders
Anorexia Nervosa:
People with anorexia severely restrict their food intake due to a fear of gaining weight, even if they are underweight. They may have a distorted body image and an intense desire to be thin.
Symptoms include:
- Extreme weight loss or being significantly underweight
- Missing meals, eating very little, or avoiding food groups
- Denial of hunger or refusal to eat
- Intense fear of weight gain
- Physical signs such as fatigue, hair thinning, and cold intolerance
- Loss of period or delay in starting periods
Bulimia Nervosa:
Bulimia involves cycles of binge eating (consuming large amounts of food quickly) followed by purging behaviours such as vomiting, fasting, or excessive exercise to avoid weight gain.
Symptoms include:
- Frequent episodes of overeating often followed by purging behaviours
- Excessive exercising or fasting
- Misuse of diuretics or laxatives
- Swollen cheeks or jaw, damaged teeth from vomiting
- Secrecy around eating habits
- Feelings of shame, guilt, or loss of control after eating
Binge Eating Disorder (BED)
This condition is characterized by regularly eating large amounts of food, often quickly and to the point of discomfort. Unlike bulimia, there is no regular purging behaviours afterwards.
Symptoms include:
- Eating in secret or when not physically hungry
- Feeling out of control during binges
- Fear of not being able to stop eating
- Guilt or distress after eating
- Fluctuations in weight or weight-gain related health problems
Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)
While not classified as an eating disorder, BDD involves obsessive focus on perceived flaws in appearance, which can lead to disordered eating behaviours or emotional distress. Equally, body dysmorphia can also underpin an eating disorder or mental health presentation.
Symptoms include:
- Constant checking of appearance in mirrors or through body checking
- Worrying about specific areas of your body or body parts
- Comparing oneself to others
- Avoiding social situations due to body image concerns
- Seeking cosmetic procedures or extreme dieting
Treatment Options
Eating disorders and BDD are treatable, and recovery is possible with a combination of psychological, nutritional, and medical support.
Psychological Therapies
Working with a psychotherapist or psychologist trained in supporting clients with eating disorders is a mainstay of treatment. NHS and NICE guidelines outline recommended treatments such as;
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT or CBT-E): Helps individuals identify and challenge distorted thinking around food and body image.
- Family-Based Therapy (FBT): Especially effective for young people, involving the whole family in supporting recovery.
- Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT): Useful for emotional regulation and managing urges to binge or purge.
Integrative Psychotherapy can incorporate different therapeutic approaches, including the therapies listed above, tailoring therapy to meet each individual client’s treatment needs. Alongside helping to tackle the symptoms of eating disorders, integrative psychotherapy gives space to work on deeper emotional and relational aspects of eating disorder and BDD processes, building a recovery which is stronger than symptom reduction, whilst helping clients to come to a compassionate understanding of why they may have be struggling with an eating disorder or body dysmorphia.
Working with a family therapist can also be an important element of therapeutic work. Parents and siblings can also need support to both come to terms with the impact that eating disorder can have on the family system, as well as to learn how to best support their loved one with their recovery.
Nutritional Therapy
Working with a nutritional therapist helps establish balanced eating patterns and a healthier relationship with food. Initially this can involve developing an individualised meal plan to help you meet your nutritional needs, before moving on to help you develop a more flexible and compassionate relationship to food and nourishing yourself.
Medical Monitoring
For those struggling with an eating disorder or body dysmorphia, it is often important to ensure that you have appropriate medical monitoring as it is likely that eating in a disordered way can put you at physical medical risk, for example due to weight loss or electrolyte imbalances. Consistent medical monitoring with your GP or a Psychiatrist may be a necessary and important part of treatment. It is possible that medication may also be recommended to support you with you other sessions.
Support Groups and Mentoring
Group therapy is an invaluable addition to individual psychotherapy as it offers a space to work therapeutically alongside other people with similar struggles. Peer support can be a powerful tool for recovery.
Sessions with a mentor can be an instrumental additional resource. A mentor is someone who has been through recovery themselves and can truly empathise with how you are feeling as you engage in treatment. Their support can help hold you steady and remind you of what you’re working towards.
Talking to others who understand what you’re going through can be incredibly healing. Many charities and organisations offer free support groups and helplines and attending support groups may be recommended alongside treatment. Anorexia and Bulimia Anonymous and Overeaters Anonymous have many in person and online groups that you can join throughout the UK and worldwide, so you are never far away from groups people who understand you and your feelings.
Helpful Resources
What Our Clients Say
ADDITIONAL READING
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