Eating Disorder Support and Therapy
Feeling trapped in a difficult relationship with food, weight or your body?
Perhaps food feels like a constant battle.
You may find yourself binge eating in secret, restricting food, obsessing about weight, feeling guilty after eating, over-exercising, purging, or feeling completely overwhelmed by thoughts about food and your body.
Maybe part of you desperately wants things to change - yet another part feels stuck in patterns that seem impossible to stop.
And perhaps nobody really knows how hard things feel behind the scenes.
If this sounds familiar, please know this: you are not alone, and support is available.
Eating disorders can feel exhausting, frightening and incredibly isolating - not only for the person struggling, but often for the people who care about them too.
What are eating disorders?
Eating disorders are complex emotional and psychological struggles that often affect much more than food.
For many people, food, eating patterns, exercise or body image become ways of coping with difficult emotions, anxiety, low self-esteem, perfectionism, overwhelm or feeling out of control.
What may begin as an attempt to feel safer, calmer or more in control can gradually become something that feels controlling instead.
Many people struggling with eating disorders experience shame, secrecy, guilt and emotional distress, often feeling misunderstood or unable to talk openly about what is happening.
Eating disorders can affect people of any age, gender or background - and no one has to be “sick enough” to deserve support.
Common types of eating disorders
Binge eating disorder
Binge eating often feels overwhelming and difficult to stop.
Many people describe eating large amounts of food quickly, often in private,
followed by guilt, shame, regret or feeling out of control.
Binge eating is not about lacking willpower. It is often closely linked to emotional stress, anxiety,
low mood or using food to cope with difficult feelings.
Anorexia Nervosa
People living with anorexia nervosa often experience an intense fear of gaining weight alongside restrictive eating patterns.
Food, exercise and body image may begin taking up an enormous amount of mental energy.
Many people also struggle with perfectionism, anxiety, social withdrawal, low self-esteem or feeling intense pressure to meet impossible standards.
It is important to understand that anorexia nervosa is very different from a simple loss of appetite.
Bulimia Nervosa
Bulimia often involves cycles of binge eating followed by attempts to compensate, such as vomiting, over-exercising, food restriction or laxative use.
For many people, this becomes a deeply distressing cycle of shame, secrecy and emotional exhaustion.
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Some people become intensely preoccupied with perceived flaws in their appearance, even when others may not notice them.
This can significantly impact confidence, mental wellbeing and everyday life.
Orthorexia
Orthorexia involves becoming highly preoccupied with eating only foods considered “clean”, “healthy” or “pure”.
While wanting to eat well is not a problem, for some people the focus becomes so rigid that it creates anxiety, restriction and distress around food.
Who can develop an eating disorder?
Eating disorders can affect anyone.
While they are often associated with women and girls, increasing numbers of men, boys and people of all ages are also affected.
You do not have to fit a stereotype to be struggling.
And eating disorders are not defined by body size.
Many people silently struggle for years without anyone realising.
Therapy for eating disorders and body image struggles
Recovery is about far more than changing eating habits.
Therapy offers a supportive space to understand the emotional patterns underneath the struggle - whether that is anxiety, perfectionism, trauma, low self-esteem, shame, emotional overwhelm or feeling out of control.
Together, we work to understand what may be driving the behaviours and begin changing the way you relate to yourself, your emotions and your body.
Support may help with:
Binge eating or emotional eating
Restrictive eating and food anxiety
Bulimia or purging behaviours
Body image concerns
Food guilt and obsessive thoughts about eating
Low self-esteem and perfectionism
Anxiety linked to food or weight
Every person’s experience is unique, which is why I always tailor support to your individual needs.
Online eating disorder therapy
Sessions are available via FaceTime, Zoom, WhatsApp or Messenger, making support accessible wherever you are in the world. All you need is a phone, tablet or computer, a reliable internet connection and somewhere private where you feel comfortable talking. Please either email or call me on 0409 254 500 and we can arrange for a chat.
