Over the years as a CBT therapist in Swindon and online, I have worked with a number of individuals - particularly teenage girls - to overcome eating disorders. This includes problems like bulimia, anorexia, binge eating, along with other issues associated with body dysmorphia.
Eating disorders are not, contrary to popular belief, only about one's weight. They are rooted in deeper, more complex issues such as anxiety, low self-esteem, or depression, and have a debilitating effect on someone's health and wellbeing. CBT has been shown to be an effective treatment for this problem, to the point where organisations such as NICE and Mind both recommend CBT as a treatment for complex eating disorders.
In this blog, we will look at the way I work with eating disorders as a CBT therapist in Swindon and online.
CBT Therapy for Eating Disorders
The amount and regularity of CBT sessions we will have depends on the severity of your particular disorder. We can work in different ways, depending on what suits you. It could be that you would benefit from walking through the risks of eating disorders, or helping them to plan your diet and maintain records of your success in sticking to this.
Before anything, we will work to gain an understanding of how the eating disorder affects your day-to-day life, seeing what motivations and triggers are out there for your specific eating disorder. We will then collaborate on coming up with a plan that provides a clear strategy for improving the areas we have identified during this early discovery stage.
The bulk of our work will be about exploring thoughts and ideas that contribute to the proliferation of your eating disorder, gradually engaging with and adapting these thoughts to encourage a healthier diet and more positive perception of yourself. We will, of course, look at the underlying reasons for the eating disorder behaviours with a view towards of supporting you on your path towards no longer using eating, or not eating, as a way of making yourself feel better.
Put simply, CBT therapy helps you to manage eating disorders in a gentle, guided way. Nothing happens overnight; this is a journey that takes time, but it's one that many have taken and come out the other side feeling far more assured.
If you would like to know a bit more about my CBT therapy in Swindon or online for eating disorders, please don't hesitate to give me a call at any time.