Welcome
Hello, I'm Jess - a chartered counselling psychologist specialising in disordered eating difficulties.
I use the term disordered eating difficulties, rather than eating disorders, because so many people don't have an eating disorder diagnosis - yet struggle considerably with food, eating and body image distress.
When you are unable to eat in peace for these reasons, life can be extremely difficult and can feel miserable.
I offer therapy sessions via Zoom video calls, UK-wide, to help people work towards being able to eat in peace.
In my experience, this often goes hand in hand with other positive changes - like developing a better body image, feeling more confident, and enjoying a better quality of life.
Clients I work with often struggle with...
Problem dieting
It is common for the people I work with to have long and difficult histories of "dieting". Dieting may even be a cause of the disordered eating difficulty. For example, many people with binge eating problems believe their binge eating is because they don't have enough "willpower" to stick to their diet. In reality, it is often the diet that causes the binge eating, via inevitable physical and/or psychological drives.
Weight concerns
Concerns about weight and shape often cause and maintain disordered eating difficulties, whether the person is under, at, or above a weight that may often be deemed as "normal" or "healthy". Regardless of a person's actual weight, shape or size, it is possible for body-image to improve so that it no longer feels necessary to "fix" physical appearance through disordered eating.
Binge eating
Binge eating issues can occur in different forms of disordered eating difficulties. Regardless of what eating looks like the rest of the time, binge eating can be the cause of a huge amount of distress. It is possible to reduce or even eliminate binge eating, e.g. by making changes to other eating habits, by gaining insight into binge triggers, and by developing new strategies to cope with urges to binge eat.
Low self-esteem
In my experience, clients with eating difficulties often also have low self-esteem. That is, they don't feel particularly good about themselves as people. This is often what leads someone to place so much importance on feeling they need to look a certain way, and so to develop disordered eating issues in the first place. This is something that can be worked on in the therapy I offer.
"Compensation"
Some people with disordered eating difficulties aim to "compensate" for perceived over-eating, or for binge eating. For example, some people use laxatives, vomit, aim to eat less and/or exercise more to try and "make up" for their eating. This often feeds into a vicious cycle and keeps the person trapped in their eating difficulty. Some forms of so-called "compensating" are also very dangerous and can be fatal.
Feeling hopeless
Often, clients have tried many times to overcome their disordered eating - it can be difficult to hold on to hope that change is possible. But I believe it is possible. Sometimes it is just about finding the right approach, at the right time. I work with clients to understand their situation, and to tailor my work to them, rather than following any one strict method of working with eating difficulties.
If you're at risk of suicide or of hurting yourself in some way...
Please keep yourself safe. You could make an urgent GP appointment, call 999, go to A&E, call a trusted friend, or reach out to a helpline such as The Samaritans (116 123).
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