Therapies for Eating Disorders

Many people struggle with some form of eating disturbance. Eating disordered symptoms fall on a continuum from full-blown diagnosable eating disorders such as Bulimia, Binge-eating Disorder and Anorexia, or can be disruptions in healthy eating accompanied by body image difficulties that don’t meet the full criteria for a diagnosis. A thorough assessment will be conducted to ascertain where the afflicted person falls on the continuum.

Often certain personality traits contribute to disordered eating/body image difficulties such as Perfectionism, and/or a very powerful need for control that usually plays out via the body – except that it’s not only about body, it’s also about self-esteem, unacknowledged negative feelings, beliefs about physical attractiveness and how those link to a sense of worthiness and acceptability. Because people with this kind of difficulty often struggle to work out what constitutes balanced eating, an onward referral to a specialist dietician might be indicated as part of the overall treatment plan. Disturbed eating behaviour often (although not always) requires a multi-faceted approach in terms of the psychology aspect, the nutritional aspect, and the psychiatric/medical aspect, especially if there is accompanying anxiety, depression and/or medical problems such as electrolyte imbalance.