Therapy for Eating Disorders in London – Compassionate Support for Recovery

You’re here because something needs to change. Perhaps you’ve been struggling silently with food and body image for months, even years. Or maybe someone who cares about you has noticed the signs. Whatever brought you to this page, know this: seeking help takes courage, and you’ve already taken the first step.

Eating disorders are isolating. They whisper lies about who you are and what you deserve. But recovery is possible – not just surviving, but truly living again. At our Central London practice, we understand the complex relationship between food, emotions, and identity that characterises eating disorders. More importantly, we know how to help you find your way back to yourself.

Understanding Eating Disorders and Their Impact

What Are Eating Disorders?

Let’s be clear from the start: eating disorders aren’t about vanity or willpower. They’re complex mental health conditions that affect how you think, feel, and behave around food and your body. Recent NHS data shows that up to 6.4% of UK adults display signs of an eating disorder – that’s millions of people struggling, often in silence.

These conditions involve both physical and psychological components that become deeply intertwined. You might recognise yourself in one of these patterns:

• Anorexia nervosa: Severe restriction of food intake, intense fear of weight gain, distorted body image
• Bulimia nervosa: Cycles of binge eating followed by compensatory behaviours like purging
• Binge eating disorder: Regular episodes of eating large amounts of food, often rapidly and to the point of discomfort
• ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder): Extreme picky eating that affects nutrition and social functioning
• Other specified feeding or eating disorders (OSFED): Symptoms that don’t fit neatly into other categories but cause significant distress

Here’s what many people don’t understand: eating disorders start as mental health concerns and quickly become physical health conditions through malnutrition. They’re not lifestyle choices. They’re serious illnesses that deserve proper treatment and compassion.

Signs You May Need Professional Support

How do you know when your relationship with food has crossed into dangerous territory? Sometimes the signs creep up so gradually that you barely notice. Or perhaps you’ve become skilled at hiding them, even from yourself.

Physical warning signs might include dramatic weight changes (in either direction), constant fatigue that sleep doesn’t fix, digestive problems that won’t go away, feeling cold all the time, or changes in your menstrual cycle. But the physical symptoms only tell part of the story.

The emotional indicators often run deeper. Do you find yourself constantly thinking about food, calories, or your next meal – or how to avoid it? Has checking your body in mirrors become compulsive? Do you feel genuine panic at the thought of eating certain foods or in social situations involving meals?

Then there are the behaviours that start to take over your life. Elaborate food rules. Exercising through injury or exhaustion. Eating in secret. Weighing yourself multiple times a day. Avoiding social events because there might be food. Using laxatives or making yourself sick. These patterns don’t just affect your relationship with food – they impact every relationship in your life.

If you’re questioning whether you need help, that question itself is often the answer. You don’t need to wait until things get “worse” to deserve support.

The Reality of Eating Disorders in the UK

The numbers tell a sobering story. At least 1.25 million people in the UK are currently affected by eating disorders, though experts believe this significantly underestimates the true figure. Why? Because shame keeps people silent. Because GPs sometimes miss the signs. Because we still labour under the misconception that eating disorders only affect young, white, middle-class girls.

The pandemic changed everything. There’s been a 47% increase in young people starting treatment for eating disorders compared to pre-2020 levels. The isolation, the loss of routine, the constant anxiety – it created a perfect storm for disordered eating to flourish.

But here’s what the statistics don’t capture: the businessman who runs marathons to “earn” his meals. The new mother convinced she’s worthless because she can’t lose the baby weight. The teenager who started with “healthy eating” and ended up afraid of entire food groups. The retired teacher who’s been bingeing and purging for forty years and thinks she’s too old for help.

Eating disorders don’t discriminate. They affect people of all ages, genders, ethnicities, and body sizes. Binge eating disorder, now the most common eating disorder, affects 1 in 50 UK residents. You cannot tell if someone has an eating disorder by looking at them. Many people with bulimia maintain a “normal” weight. Those with binge eating disorder often live in larger bodies. Even those with anorexia aren’t always visibly underweight.

Our Approach to Eating Disorder Therapy in Central London

Integrative Psychotherapy for Lasting Recovery

Mark Shiels brings a unique integrative approach to eating disorder therapy, one that recognises you as a whole person, not just a collection of symptoms. Drawing from both Western psychological theories and contemplative practices, this approach weaves together insights from Jung, Klein, Winnicott, and other pioneering thinkers in psychology.

But what does “integrative” actually mean for your recovery? It means we don’t force you into a one-size-fits-all treatment model. Instead, we draw from various therapeutic approaches to create something that fits you – your personality, your history, your specific struggles with food and body image.

Core Process Psychotherapy, the foundation of Mark’s training at the internationally renowned Karuna Institute, offers a particular lens for understanding eating disorders. It looks at how you are right now, in this present moment, and how past conditioning shapes your current responses. This isn’t about endless analysis of your childhood (though we’ll explore the past when it’s helpful). It’s about understanding your patterns and, crucially, discovering your capacity for change.

The therapy addresses all levels of your experience – cognitive (your thoughts and beliefs), energetic (the felt sense of emotions in your body), and physical (how eating disorders manifest in your body). We’re not just interested in stopping behaviours; we’re interested in understanding what drives them and finding healthier ways to meet those underlying needs.

Creating a Safe, Non-Judgmental Space

Privacy and confidentiality aren’t just professional requirements at our practice – they’re sacred. Your story, your struggles, your journey towards recovery: these remain strictly between us. In our therapy room, you’ll find a space that’s physically and emotionally safe.

Mark runs a fully inclusive, equal opportunities practice. This means wherever you come from, however you identify, whatever your background – you’re welcome here. There’s no “typical” eating disorder client, and there’s no judgment about how your struggles manifest. Some clients have been fighting their eating disorder for decades; others are just beginning to recognise the problem. Some have tried multiple treatments; others are stepping into therapy for the first time. All are met with the same respect and compassion.

Understanding the courage it takes to seek help is fundamental to our approach. Picking up the phone, sending that email, walking through the door – we know these aren’t small acts. They’re profound statements of hope, even when hope feels impossible. The therapeutic relationship we build together becomes a cornerstone of recovery. It’s a relationship based on trust, honesty, and genuine care for your wellbeing.

This isn’t a clinical, detached environment where you’re just another case study. It’s a human connection where your experiences are witnessed, your emotions are validated, and your capacity for healing is consistently reflected back to you.

Personalised Treatment Planning

Your eating disorder is unique to you. Yes, there are common patterns and diagnostic criteria, but the way an eating disorder weaves into your specific life – your relationships, your work, your sense of self – that’s entirely individual. So why would treatment be any different?

The journey begins with an individual assessment where we explore not just your eating behaviours but your whole story. What brought you to this point? What does the eating disorder do for you (because it always serves some function, even if that function has become destructive)? What would recovery look like in your particular life?

We work collaboratively to set goals that matter to you. Maybe that’s being able to eat dinner with your family again. Perhaps it’s going to university without the eating disorder coming along. Or simply waking up one morning without the first thought being about food or your body. These goals become our shared compass, though we remain flexible as your understanding of recovery evolves.

The pace of therapy respects your readiness for change. Eating disorders often provide a sense of control or safety, even as they destroy your life. Ripping that away too quickly can be counterproductive, even dangerous. Instead, we work at a pace that challenges you whilst maintaining safety – emotional and physical.

Evidence-Based Therapy Approaches We Use

Cognitive and Analytical Approaches

Your thoughts shape your reality. This isn’t new-age mysticism; it’s the foundation of cognitive therapy. The beliefs you hold about food, your body, and your worth create the lens through which you experience the world. When those beliefs become distorted – “I’m only valuable if I’m thin,” “Eating makes me weak,” “I don’t deserve nourishment” – they drive behaviours that ultimately cause suffering.

In our work together, we’ll gently examine these thought patterns. Where did they come from? (Often, they’re not originally yours but absorbed from family, culture, or traumatic experiences.) How do they influence your behaviour? Most importantly, are they actually true?

This isn’t about positive thinking or simply replacing “negative” thoughts with “positive” ones. It’s far more nuanced. We’re building your capacity to observe your thoughts without being controlled by them, to question beliefs you’ve held as absolute truths, and to develop a more flexible, compassionate way of thinking about yourself and your relationship with food.

The analytical aspect draws from psychodynamic traditions, exploring how unconscious processes influence your eating. What emotions get channelled into food restriction or bingeing? What early relationships set the template for how you nurture (or punish) yourself? This deeper exploration happens naturally, as you’re ready for it, always in service of your recovery rather than intellectual understanding alone.

Mind-Body Integration Techniques

Eating disorders create a profound disconnection between mind and body. You might experience your body as an enemy to be controlled, ignored, or punished. Recovery involves not just changing behaviours but fundamentally shifting this relationship.

The body holds wisdom that the thinking mind often overrides. Hunger cues, fullness signals, emotional sensations – these natural regulatory systems become scrambled by eating disorders. Our therapy includes gentle practices to help you reconnect with these body signals, not as commands to be obeyed or rebellions to be crushed, but as information to be considered.

We might explore how emotions manifest physically. That tightness in your chest before a binge – what’s it trying to tell you? The hollow feeling that no amount of food seems to fill – what’s actually empty? This isn’t about forcing awareness but gradually, safely increasing your capacity to be present with physical and emotional experience.

Sometimes we’ll work with breathing exercises or gentle movement (nothing to do with burning calories, everything to do with inhabiting your body). Other times, we’ll simply practice noticing – really noticing – what it feels like to eat when hungry, to stop when satisfied, to sit with difficult emotions without using food to manage them.

What to Expect from Eating Disorder Therapy

Your First Session

The thought of that first session can be terrifying. What will you have to reveal? Will you be judged? What if you’re not “sick enough” for help? Let’s demystify what actually happens.

Your initial consultation is about connection and exploration, not interrogation. We’ll discuss what’s bringing you to therapy now – and “I don’t know, I just know something needs to change” is a perfectly valid answer. You don’t need to have everything figured out. That’s what therapy is for.

We’ll explore your history with food and body image, but you control how much you share. There’s no pressure to lay bare your entire soul in the first hour. Trust builds over time, and we respect that process. Some practical aspects: we’ll discuss the frequency of sessions, how therapy works, any concerns you have about the process.

You might worry about being weighed or having to keep food diaries immediately. These tools might become part of therapy if they’re helpful, but nothing is forced upon you. This is your recovery, and you have agency in how it unfolds.

Most importantly, we’ll begin establishing whether we’re a good therapeutic fit. The right relationship is crucial for recovery, and if for any reason we’re not the right match, we’ll help you find someone who is.

The Therapeutic Journey

Recovery isn’t linear. Some sessions you’ll leave feeling empowered and hopeful. Others might stir up difficult emotions or resistance. This is all part of the process.

A typical session provides space to explore what’s alive for you that week. Maybe you had a breakthrough with a fear food. Perhaps work stress triggered restriction. Or family comments about your body sent you spiralling. We work with what’s present whilst keeping sight of longer-term patterns and goals.

Building coping strategies is crucial, but it’s not about white-knuckling through urges. We develop skills that actually work for your specific challenges. These might include distress tolerance techniques for managing urges, communication strategies for setting boundaries around food talk, or body image exercises to challenge distorted perceptions.

The real work often involves addressing what lies beneath the eating disorder. Trauma that was never processed. Perfectionism that demands impossible standards. A deep belief that you’re only lovable if you’re “good” (and “good” got tangled up with food rules somewhere along the way). As trust deepens, we explore these roots, not to dwell in the past but to understand and heal patterns that keep you stuck.

Developing healthier relationships with food is both practical and deeply emotional work. It might involve challenging fear foods in session, planning regular meals, or simply practicing eating without guilt. But it’s never just about the food. It’s about reclaiming your right to nourishment, pleasure, and peace.

Flexible Session Options

Life doesn’t stop for recovery, and we understand the juggling act you’re managing. Our practice offers flexible options to make therapy accessible regardless of your circumstances.

In-person therapy at our Central London location provides a dedicated space for your recovery. The WC2N postcode places us within easy reach of multiple transport links, making it convenient whether you’re coming from work, home, or anywhere in between. There’s something powerful about having a physical space that’s just for your healing – somewhere separate from the demands and triggers of daily life.

But we recognise that in-person isn’t always possible or preferable. Online sessions via Zoom or FaceTime offer the same quality of therapeutic support with added flexibility. Whether you travel frequently for work, live outside London, or simply feel safer starting therapy from your own space, virtual sessions can be just as effective.

Some clients prefer a hybrid approach – mostly in-person with occasional online sessions when life gets complicated. Others start online and transition to face-to-face as they feel ready. The format matters less than the consistency and quality of the therapeutic relationship.

We work around your schedule, with evening appointments available for those juggling work commitments. Recovery shouldn’t require putting your entire life on hold.

Common Eating Disorders We Treat

Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia is perhaps the most visible eating disorder, yet also the most misunderstood. It’s not about vanity or control – it’s about survival, albeit through a strategy that’s become life-threatening.

If you’re struggling with anorexia, you might recognise the relentless drive for thinness that never feels satisfied. No weight is ever low enough. No amount of restriction feels like true control. The rules multiply and become increasingly rigid: safe foods shrink to almost nothing, exercise becomes compulsive, and the fear of weight gain overshadows everything else.

Our therapy for anorexia addresses both the physical and psychological aspects. We work closely with GPs and other medical professionals when needed, ensuring your physical health is monitored whilst we address the underlying issues. Weight restoration, when necessary, is approached collaboratively – not as something done to you, but as a choice you make for recovery.

The psychological work involves understanding what the anorexia is protecting you from. Often, it’s emotional experiences that feel too big or dangerous. Sometimes it’s a way to communicate distress that couldn’t be expressed in words. Always, it’s more complex than simply wanting to be thin.

Bulimia Nervosa

Living with bulimia often feels like being trapped in an exhausting secret. The cycle of bingeing and purging becomes both the problem and the solution – a temporary escape that inevitably leads to shame, physical discomfort, and the promise to never do it again. Until the next time.

The binge isn’t really about hunger, is it? It’s about filling an emotional void, numbing difficult feelings, or momentarily abandoning the restrictive rules that govern your eating. But the relief is fleeting, quickly replaced by panic, disgust, and the desperate need to “undo” what you’ve done.

Our therapy for bulimia focuses on breaking this cycle, but not through willpower or shame. We explore what triggers the binges – often it’s restriction (physical or mental), emotional distress, or specific situations. We develop strategies for managing these triggers and riding out urges without acting on them.

Equally important is addressing the shame that maintains the cycle. Bulimia thrives in secrecy. Speaking your truth in therapy – the foods you binge on, the methods of purging, the lies you’ve told to hide it – brings these behaviours into the light where they lose some of their power.

Binge Eating Disorder

Binge eating disorder is now the most common eating disorder, affecting 1 in 50 people in the UK, yet it’s often dismissed as lack of willpower or greed. Nothing could be further from the truth.

If you have binge eating disorder, you know the experience of eating past fullness, past comfort, sometimes to the point of physical pain. It’s not about hunger or even enjoying food. During a binge, you might feel disconnected, almost watching yourself from outside. Afterwards comes the crushing shame, physical discomfort, and promises of restriction that often trigger the next binge.

Society’s weight stigma adds another layer of suffering. You might face discrimination in healthcare, employment, and relationships. Well-meaning friends suggest diets that only make the bingeing worse. The message that your body is wrong becomes internalised as believing you are wrong.

Our therapy for binge eating disorder isn’t about weight loss – it’s about healing your relationship with food and yourself. We explore the emotional functions of bingeing: What feelings does it numb? What needs is it trying to meet? We develop alternative ways to cope with these emotions and meet these needs.

We also address the restrict-binge cycle that many people don’t recognise. Mental restriction (“I shouldn’t eat that”) can trigger binges just as much as physical restriction. Learning to eat regularly, adequately, and without judgment often naturally reduces binge episodes.

Other Eating and Body Image Concerns

Not everyone’s struggle fits neatly into diagnostic boxes, and that’s perfectly okay. Your suffering is valid regardless of whether it has an official label.

ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) might look like “picky eating” from the outside, but inside it’s genuine fear or disgust around certain foods, textures, or eating situations. This isn’t childish fussiness – it’s real distress that can significantly impact nutrition and social life. Our therapy helps gradually expand your food comfort zone whilst respecting your sensory needs and autonomy.

Orthorexia – an obsession with “healthy” or “clean” eating – isn’t officially recognised yet, but the suffering it causes is very real. What starts as trying to eat well becomes rigid rules, social isolation, and paradoxically, malnutrition. We help you find balance between nourishing your body and nourishing your life.

Body dysmorphia involves a distorted perception of your appearance that goes beyond normal insecurities. You might spend hours checking mirrors or avoiding them entirely, seek repeated cosmetic procedures, or isolate yourself due to shame about perceived flaws others don’t see. Our therapy addresses both the behaviours and the underlying pain.

Emotional eating – using food to manage feelings rather than hunger – exists on a spectrum. Sometimes it’s a harmless comfort; sometimes it becomes the only coping mechanism you have. We help you understand your emotional eating patterns without judgment and develop a fuller emotional toolkit.

Why Choose Our Practice for Eating Disorder Therapy

Experienced, Qualified Practitioner

Mark Shiels brings a unique combination of qualifications and experience to eating disorder therapy. As a UKCP Registered Psychotherapist, he meets the highest standards of professional practice in the UK. But qualifications alone don’t make a good therapist.

His academic background spans Psychology, Business Studies, Theology, and World Religions, culminating in a Masters in Philosophy from Trinity College Dublin’s Irish School of Ecumenics and Peace Studies. This diverse education brings a richness of perspective to therapy – understanding not just the psychological but the spiritual, cultural, and social dimensions of eating disorders.

The real expertise, though, comes from years of sitting with clients in their suffering and witnessing their recovery. Mark trained at the internationally renowned Karuna Institute in Devon, the only fully UKCP-accredited training in Buddhist Psychology in Western Europe. This training emphasises presence, compassion, and the therapeutic relationship as the vehicle for healing.

His integrative approach has been enriched by study with leading figures in psychotherapy and meditation. This isn’t about following one rigid model but having a rich toolkit to draw from, always in service of what helps you specifically. Learn more about Mark’s approach and training.

Comprehensive Support Approach

Eating disorders rarely travel alone. People with eating disorders often also have another psychiatric condition. Anxiety, depression, trauma, OCD, autism, ADHD – these often interweave with eating disorders in complex ways.

Our approach recognises this complexity. We don’t just treat the eating disorder in isolation but understand it within the context of your whole experience. If anxiety triggers restriction, we address the anxiety. If trauma underlies bingeing, we gently work with the trauma. If autism affects your relationship with food textures, we respect and work with your sensory needs.

This doesn’t mean trying to fix everything at once – that would be overwhelming and counterproductive. Instead, we prioritise based on what’s most urgent and what you’re ready to address, always keeping in mind how different issues interconnect.

Long-term recovery is our focus. We’re not interested in quick fixes that don’t last or surface changes that leave the roots untouched. Real recovery means not just stopping behaviours but building a life where the eating disorder is no longer needed. That takes time, patience, and consistent support.

Taking the First Step Towards Recovery

When to Seek Help

Here’s the truth: you don’t need to wait until things are “bad enough” to deserve help. The eating disorder will always tell you that you’re not sick enough, not thin enough, not struggling enough to warrant support. This is the illness talking, not reality.

Early intervention makes a genuine difference. The longer an eating disorder goes untreated, the more entrenched it becomes – physically, psychologically, and socially. Neural pathways strengthen, medical complications accumulate, and the eating disorder becomes increasingly central to your identity.

So when should you seek help? Now. If you’re reading this and wondering whether your relationship with food is problematic, that wondering itself is significant. If friends or family have expressed concern, even if you disagree with them, consider that they might be seeing something you can’t.

Signs it’s time for support include: preoccupation with food, weight or body shape that interferes with daily life; eating patterns that cause physical or emotional distress; avoiding social situations because of food; using behaviours like restriction, bingeing, purging or excessive exercise to manage emotions; feeling out of control around food; or simply feeling that your relationship with food and your body is causing suffering.

You might think, “But others have it worse.” There will always be someone sicker, thinner, struggling more visibly. That doesn’t diminish your suffering or your right to support. Your pain is valid, and you deserve help.

What Stops People from Seeking Help

Let’s address the elephant in the room – the barriers that keep people suffering in silence. Research shows that people wait an average of 3.5 years between falling ill with an eating disorder and starting treatment. Why?

Cost is a practical concern. Private therapy is an investment, and when the NHS waiting lists stretch for months or years, private treatment might feel like the only option. We understand this concern. Think of it this way: what is the eating disorder already costing you? Lost opportunities, damaged relationships, medical complications, the sheer mental energy consumed by food thoughts – these costs accumulate too. Therapy is an investment in reclaiming your life.

Shame might be the biggest barrier. The shame of having an eating disorder, of not being able to “just eat normally,” of the behaviours you’ve hidden. Perhaps shame about your body, whether it’s “too big,” “too small,” or simply not matching the image in your head. Shame thrives in secrecy and silence. Speaking your truth in therapy, being met with understanding rather than judgment – this is where shame begins to lose its grip.

Fear of change, paradoxically, keeps many people stuck. The eating disorder, for all its destruction, feels familiar. Who would you be without it? What would fill the space it occupies? These are valid fears that we explore in therapy. Recovery doesn’t mean losing yourself – it means finding yourself beyond the eating disorder.

Some worry they’ll be forced to gain weight or lose control. Our therapy is collaborative. Nothing is done to you; everything is done with you. You maintain agency throughout your recovery journey.

Book Your Initial Consultation

If you’ve read this far, something resonates. Maybe it’s hope. Maybe it’s recognition. Maybe it’s just exhaustion from fighting this battle alone. Whatever brings you here, taking the next step could change everything.

Booking your initial consultation is straightforward. You can call Mark directly on 07973 890 164 or landline 0207 2093224. If speaking feels too daunting right now, send an email to mark@buddhistpsychotherapy.org.uk. You don’t need to explain everything – just express your interest in therapy.

What happens next? We’ll arrange a time that works for you, either in-person at our Central London practice or online if that feels more comfortable initially. There’s no pressure, no judgment, just a conversation about what you’re experiencing and how therapy might help.

You might be thinking, “I’ll do it tomorrow,” or “After this stressful period,” or “When I’m ready.” But eating disorders thrive on delay. They convince you there’s always a better time, a more prepared version of yourself who’ll seek help. That future version never arrives because the eating disorder ensures you never feel ready.

Recovery is possible. Not just marginal improvement or learning to live with suffering, but genuine freedom from the tyranny of food and body preoccupation. Imagine waking up and your first thought not being about what you’ll eat or avoid that day. Imagine choosing clothes based on what you like, not what hides your body. Imagine eating with others without anxiety, moving your body for joy rather than punishment, having mental space for dreams beyond the eating disorder.

This isn’t fantasy. It’s what recovery looks like, and it’s available to you.

Frequently Asked Questions About Eating Disorder Therapy

How long does eating disorder therapy take?

There’s no honest answer that fits everyone. Recovery timelines vary enormously based on factors like how long you’ve had the eating disorder, its severity, co-occurring conditions, external support, and your readiness for change. Some people experience significant improvement within months; others need years of consistent support.

What we can promise is that we won’t rush you or impose arbitrary timelines. Recovery happens at the pace that’s right for you. The eating disorder didn’t develop overnight, and it won’t disappear overnight either. But each session, each small step, each moment of choosing recovery adds up to transformation.

Commitment to the process matters more than speed. Showing up consistently, even when it’s hard – especially when it’s hard – creates momentum. There will be setbacks. That’s not failure; it’s part of recovery. What matters is returning to the work, again and again, with compassion for yourself.

Do I need a GP referral?

No, you don’t need a GP referral for private therapy. You can self-refer directly by contacting us. This means you can start therapy without waiting for GP appointments or navigating NHS pathways.

That said, we strongly encourage working with your GP alongside therapy, especially if there are medical concerns related to your eating disorder. Your GP can monitor physical health, prescribe medication if needed, and provide medical support that complements the psychological work.

We can, with your permission, communicate with your GP or other healthcare providers to ensure coordinated care. Some clients prefer keeping therapy completely separate from other medical care, and we respect that choice. The important thing is that your physical health is monitored somewhere, especially if you’re medically compromised.

Can therapy really help with eating disorders?

The evidence says yes, unequivocally. Extensive research demonstrates that psychotherapy, particularly approaches like CBT, DBT, and integrative therapies, effectively treat eating disorders. But beyond research statistics, we see it in practice – clients who thought recovery impossible discovering freedom they’d forgotten existed.

Recovery doesn’t mean perfection. It doesn’t mean never having a difficult body image day or never using food for comfort. It means the eating disorder no longer controls your life. It means flexibility around food, peace with your body (even on hard days), and mental space for things that matter beyond calories and weight.

Success factors include finding the right therapeutic fit (not every therapist suits every client), readiness to engage with the process (which doesn’t mean being free of ambivalence), and support outside therapy. Recovery happens in relationship – with your therapist, but also with friends, family, and ultimately with yourself.

Is online therapy as effective as in-person?

Research increasingly shows that online therapy can be just as effective as in-person therapy for many conditions, including eating disorders. The key factor isn’t the format but the quality of the therapeutic relationship and your engagement with the process.

Online therapy offers unique benefits. You’re in your own space, which might feel safer initially. There’s no commute, making it easier to fit into busy schedules. For those with social anxiety or agoraphobia alongside their eating disorder, starting online can make therapy accessible when in-person feels impossible.

In-person therapy has advantages too. The physical presence, the ritual of attending sessions, the separation from your daily environment – these can be powerful. Some therapeutic techniques work better in person. Non-verbal communication is clearer.

Many clients find a combination works best. Starting online when trust is building, moving to in-person as comfort grows, or mixing formats based on practical needs. The therapeutic connection matters more than the medium through which it occurs.

Will my therapy be confidential?

Absolutely. Confidentiality is fundamental to therapy and strictly maintained. What you share in sessions stays in sessions. Your privacy is protected by professional ethics and legal requirements.

There are very limited exceptions to confidentiality, which we’ll discuss in your first session. These involve situations where there’s serious risk of harm to yourself or others. Even then, we’d discuss it with you first whenever possible. The goal is always your safety and wellbeing, never judgment or control.

Many clients worry about others finding out they’re in therapy. We understand. Your attendance, your diagnosis, your struggles – these remain private. We won’t even confirm you’re a client if someone contacts us. Emails are handled confidentially. Our practice location is discrete.

This confidential space allows you to speak truths you’ve never voiced, explore parts of yourself you’ve hidden, and gradually let go of the shame that silence breeds. It’s a professional relationship, yes, but also a sacred trust that we take seriously.

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Recovery from an eating disorder is possible. Not probable or theoretical – possible for you, specifically, regardless of how long you’ve struggled or how hopeless it feels. The eating disorder will tell you otherwise. It will insist you’re too broken, too entrenched, too far gone. These are lies designed to keep you trapped.

The truth is simpler and more radical: you deserve to live free from the tyranny of food and body obsession. You deserve to wake up with thoughts beyond calories and weight. You deserve to eat without guilt, move without punishment, and exist in your body with something approaching peace.

Taking the first step feels monumental because it is. Contact us today. Your future self – the one who’s free from this exhausting battle – will thank you for the courage you show right now.

Call 07973 890 164 or email mark@buddhistpsychotherapy.org.uk to book your confidential consultation.