Dealing with an eating disorder can be a complex process. Although there are primarily six main disorders, some people can suffer with food issues that fall outside of these boxes. However, therapists are trained to help with all types of eating disorders, no matter which category they fall into so whether you are suffering with Anorexia nervosa, Bulimia nervosa, Binge eating, Avoidant/Restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), Pica, Rumination disorder or something unclassified, they can help.
Treatment varies from person to person and may take a few months or several years. Your psychoanalyst will help you to maintain the energy and motivation to keep going to ensure that you carry out the work required of you. Recovery from an eating disorder will deal with removing negative thoughts and damaging behaviour and getting back in touch with yourself, accepting who you are and no longer continually beating yourself up.
Counsellors use a whole range of psychotherapy treatments to deal with eating disorders including cognitive behavioural therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy or whatever they deem suitable to match your particular condition. Just as no two patients are the same then neither are the treatment plans.
Group therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) may be powerful treatments suitable for you, all of them helping you to regain control of your relationship with food. Family can also be included, particularly if the sufferer is fairly young. Medication may be recommended but most of the time your analyst will treat food as the ‘medicine’, using psychotherapy to even out your moods and control your worrying thoughts or urges.
If you would like us to put you in touch with a counsellor that can help you to deal with your eating disorder, fill in the form below. We will identify a practitioner that is suitable for you and who will be able to assist.
Only you can decide whether you need one, the other, or both. Either way, believing in a better version of ourselves being out there might not be as bad as portrayed, and with the right tool, you can move in the right direction.
