Eating Disorder Treatment: I have undergone extensive training to give my clients the help they need. I’ve trained with the National Centre for Eating Disorders, and I am a certified counsellor who specialises in eating disorders.
https://counsellorwhocares.selectandbook.com
Types of eating disorders
There are a fair few eating disorders, some a lot more common than others.
- Anorexia Nervosa: Trying to keep your weight down as low as possible, which is why they eat as little food as possible
- Bulimia: When they sometimes lose control and eat a lot of food in a short period, which is commonly known as binging, and are then sick; they then restrict what they eat or do too much exercise to try and stop themselves from gaining weight.
- Binge eating disorder: When they regularly lose control of their eating, eat more significant portions of food all at once till they feel uncomfortably full, and that follows with upset or guilt.
- Obesity: Often misseen, it is, in fact, an eating disorder; it’s caused by consuming too many calories, so much more than you expected to have daily, more fatty and sugary foods.
Symptoms
If you feel like you may be experiencing an unhealthy relationship with food that’s affecting your regular eating habits, you potentially could have an eating disorder.
- Avoiding socialising when you think food will be involved
- Eating very little food
- Over-exercising
- Having exact habits or routines to do with food
- Changes in mood
- Spending a lot of time worrying about your weight and body shape
- Making yourself sick
Physical signs could include feeling cold, tired or dizzy, problems with digestion, your weight being very high or low for someone of your age, and not getting your period for women and girls.
The problem is most of the time, the individual suffering may not even know they have an eating disorder, but those around them will notice more.
Getting help: Eating Disorder Treatment
A lot of the time, fear plays a big part in the way eating disorders work, and even if the person wants help, they may be afraid to take the next step. Recovery means changing behaviours, which can be a terrifying process for someone with an eating disorder. It can feel daunting, but the aim of being able to recover is to fight the fear and hope that, in time, they’ll regain a healthy relationship with food and themselves.
When suffering from an eating disorder, there is always help out there, and recovery is possible. If you are worried, talk to someone, whether a friend, a family member, or a professional; you’re never alone.
You will eventually have to visit your GP. They often send you to a specialist if they believe you have one for further assessment.
What to expect: Eating Disorder Treatment
Counseling for eating disorders can help you to overcome those unhealthy relationships with food that may be affecting your daily life. If you’re seeking therapy for an eating disorder, my sessions will give you a caring environment where you know you can talk about whatever you like and feel safe, too. There is no pressure or judgment; we can go at our own pace.
We will conduct an assessment, then a structured session and homework to move forward, using the recovery record app if you feel it’s helpful.
We will monitor your eating and discuss ways you can incorporate a different eating style. Recovery isn’t easy, but it is possible, and I’m here to help you get through it.
Recovery record app: Eating Disorder Treatment
An app that manages your journey to recovery from eating disorders that include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder. It can also be used for general eating, weight and shape concerns.
It replaces paper diaries with an easy-to-use app that connects you with the support you need and gives your counsellor more insight into your health.
You can record meals and feelings, customise log questions, meal plans, coping tactics, track progress, and more.
Recovery outcomes for counselling: Eating Disorder Treatment
Like anything, recovery is possible. For some, it takes ages, and it can be as. However, with counselling, there are many positive outcomes for a lot more complicated than others. It can help you be free from the obsession with food, so you won’t need to hide your behaviour from others. It can make you happy and look forward to toping with things without turning it in for another day, co to food, and feeling better about your body.
Counselling information for eating disorder treatment
Barriers are predictable:
- Fear of change or weight gain
- Beliefs about food get in the way
- Non-deserving is common
- Unhelpful lifestyle/others
- I can’t- cravings
- Purging
- It’s too stressful
Nutritional Rehab
- Blood glucose control
- Food monitoring: nothing patterns and cues
- We help people deal with the food environment
- Education
- Appetite sensitivity training
- Mindful eating
- Cravings management
- Teach skills like planning and problem-solving and dealing with the holidays.
Fear of change
- Fear of change: The yes-no exercise
- Fear of weight gain
- Experiment, reassure
- Fear of not getting it right
Food monitoring
- Record what, when and where
- Discover eating (restricting cues)
- Identify unhelpful beliefs about food, which can be tested &moods
Homework check- e.g. yes-no work/gold-star work/learning event for slip-ups
Teach wisdom
- The link between dieting and bingeing (keys)
- A resultant physiological model of hunger satiety based on blood sugar and insulin
- Cravings can be biologically driven
- Feasting and fasting are fattening
Nutritional rehab- barriers and strategies
- Old habits die hard: Yes/no homework for flexibility
- Lifestyle: Stimulus control, managing the environment, problem-solving skills, assertion skills, managing excuses sensitively
- Unhelpful food meanings: Food= medicine, food script work/the family meal
- Fear of weight gain: Reassure, willing to experiment, food wisdom
- I can’t do this belief: Gold star work, self-care homework
- Cravings emotional eating: Stress reduction, appetite awareness training, mindful eating, cravings card, learning event on the food diary
- Purging: Response delay, work, education, etc
Standard schemas in eating disorders
- Mistrust/Abuse
- Defectiveness/shame
- Emotional inhibition
- Unattractiveness
- Unrelenting standards
- Abandonment/ instability
Emotional resilience reduces ED symptoms
- I can self-motivate
- Can say yes or no without feeling any guilt or shame
- Manages conflict reasonably well
- Deals effectively with challenging situations
- Accepts change; can make mistakes
- Feels ”in control”
Cognitive, emotional, and behavioural therapy
Step one: Permit yourself to feel all feelings, including the bad ones, without shame. You may need to look at the past to identify beliefs about feelings like ”anger is terrible.” Trauma work might be required.
Step two: Know what you feel. Use sensory intelligence and name those feelings with a therapist’s help.
Step three: New strategies- for managing feelings, which includes ”using” other people
Permission to feel without shame
Teach why we must feel and include” bad ones” like anger and jealousy.
Who invalidated you? Who had the problem? If trauma, does trauma work asap to reduce the intensity of feelings?
To know what I feel
- Develop sensing intelligence- what’s going on with my body?
- Binge analysis- what did you feel before and after?
- Ask about feelings—use emoticons, teach a vocabulary of feelings, and reinforce that it’s safe to feel.
The therapist is the model and guide
What lies beneath
I have no control; I’m weak, I’m a failure, I’m not good enough, I am ugly, I am insignificant, I can’t stand myself.
New light thinking
- How would I like it to be?
- What would you need to…
- .Is there a more helpful way of thinking about this?
What might be more helpful to believe?
Confidentiality
The information you tell us during our sessions is kept confidential, and if it is necessary to pass on details to a third party, I will always ask your permission first.
If you’d like to receive counselling for eating disorders, please call 07510 495791, email beckywhocares1@outlook.com, or use the contact form below. I’m always willing to listen.