Therapy for
Recovery from Anorexia is possible
Wherever you are in your journey, a life free from Anorexia is waiting for you.
Congratulations on taking a step towards food freedom and recovery from Anorexia. I know how difficult approaching recovery can be, it takes a lot of courage! You may have mixed feelings about addressing your eating disorder, you might look forward to dealing with the problem but also have concerns about what treatment will entail. Maybe you feel guilt or shame associated with your eating issues.
However long you have spent struggling, recovery is possible. Help is here whether you have been officially diagnosed with Anorexia or not.
Rebuild Your Relationship with Food and Your Body
People with Anorexia heavily restrict their food intake to a dangerously low and sometimes life-threatening level.
Often a very critical inner voice can keep them trapped in their illness. Together we can navigate recovery with respect, compassion and kindness.
Anorexia can look different for everyone but there are some common characteristics.
Do any of these sound familiar?
- Your life revolves around food or exercise
- Your eating has become heavily restricted and you may have certain food rules and/or feel self conscious when eating around others
- Preparing and eating meals and snacks has become difficult and may involve certain food ‘rituals’
- You are preoccupied with your weight, size or body image
- Your social life is suffering and you find you are increasingly isolating yourself and becoming more secretive
- You may be struggling to sleep
- You have low self-esteem
- You have perfectionist tendencies and are highly critical of yourself
- You may also have symptoms of depression and anxiety
- You may also find yourself in binge/purge cycles to compensate for food eaten
What is Anorexia?
Anorexia is a complex mental illness where someone restricts their food intake to a dangerous degree. People with Anorexia may have a distorted body image and a fear of gaining weight.
Exercise may be taken to excess to compensate for food eaten and the person may find themselves in binge/purge cycles.
An overall preoccupation with food can result in feeling self-conscious eating around others and secrecy, this can contribute to social withdrawal and isolation.
While some people with anorexia may have a very low weight it is now officially recognised in the 5th edition of the Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) that individuals of all weights can have anorexia, this is now classified as ‘Atypical Anorexia’.
Indeed research has indicated that individuals with Atypical Anorexia account for somewhere between a third and a half of hospital referrals.
You deserve to live a life free from Anorexia
Why Work With Me
Anorexia is not just about food and restriction, the underlying causes are emotional, this is why therapy is so important for recovery. Recovery from anorexia is a gradual process and a journey which is unique for everyone.
Over time you will find that the recovered version of you will start to become more prominent than the eating disorder until eventually you can’t hear the eating disorder at all.
You are not alone, with respect, kindness and compassion we will navigate your recovery together.
In working together we will tackle the unique root causes of your eating problems to help free you from the constant struggle with food. Often individuals with anorexia use the eating disorder to cope with their emotions, we will find healthy ways for you to cope instead of turning to food.
We will also use tools to help address immediate concerns you may have around food and body image and help to decrease the distress you are feeling right now. This might include practical steps such as looking at your food routines, noticing behaviours such as body checking and thinking about boundaries you can implement.
Living at peace with your body doesn’t need to be so exhausting and time consuming
I will also incorporate the principles of intuitive eating into our work together and think it’s really important to acknowledge the toxic role of diet culture in our society. Unfortunately diet culture has normalized disordered behaviors around food such as restriction or trying to ‘compensate’ for eating through exercise.
The latest new fad diets are disguised as ‘wellness plans’ or ‘lifestyle changes’ but they are what they always were, restrictive diets, which do not result in lasting weight loss, in fact usually the opposite, and furthermore often cause a deal of psychological and even physiological damage. Meanwhile exercise is praised at all costs with little discussion of the importance or benefits of rest.
Getting to a healthy body doesn’t involve dieting, food restriction or bingeing!