Online Therapy for Bulimia
Compassionate, expert support to break free from bulimia
Bulimia is one of the most secretive eating disorders. People often struggle with it privately for years, even decades. It takes a lot of time, energy, and shame to live with everything that comes along with this.
Full recovery is possible but it requires a therapist with specialised training, knowledge, and experience. I can support you in moving towards a life free of bulimia.
Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder characterised by cycles of binge eating (eating large amounts of food in one go), followed by behaviours intended to compensate for the eating. The most common compensatory behaviours are vomiting, laxatives, exercise, fasting, and restriction.
This isn’t about vanity or a lack of willpower; bulimia is a serious condition that often develops as a coping mechanism for distressing inner experiences, thoughts, and feelings. This includes trauma, perfectionism, anxiety, and a sense of meaningless.
What is bulimia?
Most of the people I work with will experience some combination of the following behaviours:
Cycles of bingeing followed by behaviours intended to "make up" for what’s been eaten
Feeling a lack of control around food
Intense shame, secrecy, and guilt
Feeling like there’s a completely different version of you that the people around you don’t know about
Constant preoccupation with food and your body
Cycles of rigid rules around eating that eventually fall apart
Hating the bulimia but not knowing how to live without it
Repeated attempts to stop on your own, develop more “willpower”, but finding it never lasts
Does this sound like you?
If any of this matches your experience, you aren’t alone. Help is available and you can recover.
Why willpower doesn’t work for bulimia
Overcoming bulimia involves more than discipline, willpower, or just “trying harder”. This is because it not only serves a function as a coping mechanisms but every system in your body is affected: it’s both a psychological and physiological problem. Recovery involves understanding that function, identifying the psychological processes involved, and managing the physiological aspects maintaining it. This can be seen in the cycle many people with bulimia experience: restriction drives bingeing, bingeing triggers the urge to compensate, and compensatory behaviours prime you for more restriction and bingeing.
How I work
As a therapist specialising in bulimia, I draw upon my training, clinical experience, and lived experience of recovery. This allows me to meet you where you are so that therapy can be individualdised towards meeting your needs, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.
My approach integrates my counselling training with a number of evidence-based approaches, including those taught by the National Centre for Eating Disorders. This might include drawing upon:
CBT-E (Enhanced Cognitive Behavioural Therapy)
ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy)
Logotherapy and Existential Analysis
Person-centred therapy
Motivational Interviewing
What to expect
We'll begin with a free informal 20-minute call. There's no pressure to book any further sessions afterwards; this is an introductory discussion to see if I’m the right therapist for you.
If we do seem like a good fit for working together, therapy starts with an initial 90 minute assessment, exploring what’s the factors that have led up to this point and indentifying what’s keeping you stuck.
Weekly follow-up sessions are 50 minutes and take place online via my secure video platform.