Eating disorders and body image

Some of the psychologists at Centre Point Psychology have experience working in specialist eating disorder or bariatric surgery settings.

Useful therapies for the treatment of eating disorders can include:

• Motivational interviewing -for working with the ambivalence that is a common feature of eating disorders.
• Cognitive and behavioural therapies that help you to target the symptoms of your eating disorder.
• A range of therapies to address the underlying issues that contributed to the development and maintenance of the eating disorder.

Our first session with you is designed as a more detailed assessment session to understand you and your difficulties and to help you to identify the right type of treatment for you. Careful consideration needs to be given to providing the right type of treatment at the right time. Treatment for eating disorders can be delivered in many forms including as an inpatient in hospital, in outpatient day programs where attendance is anything from one day a week to five days a week or with individual sessions with a psychologist for an hour a week. For your safety and to ensure the best possible treatment outcome for you, we will not recommend individual therapy in our practice if we think there may be a more suitable type of therapy at this point in your treatment.

Psychological work is a vital component in the treatment of eating disorders but safe and effective treatment is best achieved with a multi-disciplinary team of professionals. We strongly encourage regular consultations with an experienced dietician, monitoring of your physical health by your GP and in some cases a psychiatrist. We work closely with a range of professionals and can suggest people you can contact for multi-disciplinary support. 

The challenge with Body Image

There is currently tremendous pressure on people to try to make their bodies conform to narrow social norms and to follow an unrealistic thin ideal. Few areas in life are loaded with as much judgement as physical appearance and particularly body size. The social pressure to be a certain size promotes widespread body image issues and increases the risk of difficulties with mental health such as anxiety and depression.

Our approach to concerns related to body size 

Your relationship with food and your body is highly personal and our practice does not subscribe to any single treatment model or philosophical approach. We endeavour to provide treatment that is backed by research, that is respectful, judgement-free and centered around you. Some people find that working on self-acceptance, body-image and the impact of coping with the social over-valuing of thinness is key to improve their overall physical and psychological health. Our treatment is informed by the principles of Health At Every Size (HAES) and also respects the entitlement of every client to set their own agenda for therapy. For other people,  there may be more direct work that is needed to improve their relationship with food. Some people have highly personal reasons for needing to include weight management strategies as part of their therapy. We consult with you to understand what your particular concerns and goals are and work with you to develop a thorough and individual treatment plan that will serve your needs. Here are some of the components of therapy that might be included in your work with us:

• Identification of any eating disorder behaviours that might require treatment including binge-eating and emotional eating.
• Greater understanding of the current research on the influence of the brain and body on appetite, food choice, weight loss and regain.
• Guidance to access quality support from other professionals such as a dietician or GP that will help you work towards your best physical and psychological health.
• A forum for you to reflect on the pros and cons of bariatric surgery in a way that is non-judgemental and evidence-based, should you wish to explore that option.
• Psychological work on body-image issues to cope with the social or personal legacy of body-image difficulties. Therapeutic work to promote your sense of well-being and self-acceptance as a whole person beyond body size.
• There can be a disproportionate amount of self-blame and shame and social judgement related to body size in our thin- normative society. It can be useful to improve the understanding of wider lifestyle, social and psychological issues that might be contributing to the struggle with individual body size.