I create an empathetic and supportive environment for client’s from all demographics, who have a range of Eating Disorder’s such as Anorexia, Bulimia, Food Restriction, Sensory Issues, Binge Eating, Food Addiction’s, ARFID – Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder.

I use a combination of Clinical Hypnotherapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy to treat these disorder’s.

“Changing Habit’s and Behaviour’s for better health”

What are eating disorders?

Whilst we all need food to survive, grow and maintain our health. It is often our lack of understanding or simply a development of unusual eating habits that affect our relationships with food.

Some of us develop emotional relationships with food, generically referred to as “disordered eating” sometimes referred to as comfort eating or binge eating as well as clinical terms such as anorexia and bulimia.

These are often tied to other emotional and mental health issues like depression, anxiety and low self-esteem.

Eating disorders are a range of mental health conditions that see sufferers build unusual habits with food. As well as the psychological issues, you have the physical effects which are not only extreme weight loss or weight gain, but also the effects that extreme losses and gains in weight have on our internal organs like our hearts and liver. Quite often these seemingly simple “unhealthy choices” can have devastating effects on the body.

How are eating disorders caused?

Eating disorders are caused by life experience triggers with emotional charge which slip into our subconscious mind and impact our habits and belief systems which cause effect on our behaviours.

• Having a family history of eating disorders or depression.
• Having someone criticize your eating habits or your weight.
• Feeling pressure to stay slim for work or a hobby.
• Having certain characteristics, such as an obsessive personality or a tendency to be anxious.
• Experiencing upsetting events, such as a death or abuse.
• Relationship difficulties with a partner, friends or family members.
• Being under a lot of stress, for example at work, school or university and creating a coping mechanism or rushed eating habits

How does hypnotherapy for eating disorders work?

As a hypnotherapist I understand the root causes of the issues behind the eating disorder and often use regression techniques to discover these. I use relaxation techniques to access your subconscious to reveal the trigger event, comment or situation that may have contributed to the development of the disorder.

Then I use the power of suggestion to change thought processes and then habits around the eating disorder to facilitate a change in daily routine and the food relationship.

By using positive suggestion whilst you are “under” hypnosis, I can change the way you feel about yourself (self-esteem) as learning to feel good about and appreciate yourself is a massive part of recovery. Creating a new understanding of food and changing that relationship, hypnotherapy for eating disorders provides an overall change in mindset that includes a motivation for regular physical exercise, perception shift of certain foods and associations to food types. It motivates you to feel good about eating healthier. Replaces the old cycle of thinking and behaviour, with a new confident “can do” attitude and fundamentally changes your mindset towards food, life style and feeling good within.

SED – Selective Eating Disorder

• Does the taste, smell or texture of food make you anxious?
• Do you only have a small amount of ‘safe’ foods?
• Do you want to eat foods, but your mind and body won’t let you?
• Have you been called a ‘fussy eater’, but never grown out of it?

ARFID – Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder

ARFID is predominately a phobic reaction or aversion to food; much in the same way that people develop a phobic reaction to animals, objects or certain situations.

Many children go through a phase of disliking some foods. Maybe it’s peas or fish, or refusing to eat certain fruits and vegetables. Traditionally these children may have been labelled as ‘picky’ or ‘fussy’ eaters.

But when does someone who is labelled a ‘fussy’ eater change to being someone labelled as suffering from a Selective Eating Disorder?

A ‘fussy’ eater can be bribed to eat food. Maybe the promise of an ice-cream, or a trip to the movies will see the child reluctantly eat a spoonful of certain vegetables. But a person with SED/ARFID would not be able to do this. Even if they were starving, their brain would not allow them to bring the food to their mouth or swallow it. The SED sufferer will most times gag or vomit if forced to eat foods not considered safe.

Don’t hesitate to phone me to discuss your particular challenges with food and to book your first session with me.