Body Image and Eating Concerns

Our relationship with food, body, and self can be complex — shaped by lived experiences, cultural messages, and emotional patterns. While many people have occasional concerns about their appearance, for some, these concerns become overwhelming and start to affect their thoughts, behaviours, self-worth, and quality of life.

Eating disorders and body image concerns are not about vanity or self-control — they are often expressions of emotional pain, attempts to find safety or control, or ways of coping with difficult experiences. These struggles can occur across all genders, ages, and body types.

At Inner View Psychology, we offer compassionate, evidence-based support to help individuals heal their relationship with food and body, and reconnect with themselves in a more caring and sustainable way.

What Body Image and Eating Difficulties Can Look Like

Body image concerns and disordered eating exist on a spectrum. You may not meet criteria for a formal eating disorder and still be struggling.

Common signs may include:

• Preoccupation with body shape, weight, or appearance
• Restricting, bingeing, purging, or compulsive exercise
• Frequent body checking, comparison, or self-criticism
• Feeling guilty, anxious, or out of control around food
• Avoiding social situations involving food or being seen
• Low self-worth tied to body or eating habits
• Rigid food rules, “good” and “bad” food thinking
• Feeling disconnected from hunger, fullness, or emotions

These patterns can affect not only physical health, but also mental wellbeing, identity, and relationships. You do not have to be underweight or look a certain way to be struggling or to deserve help.

The Roots of Body Image & Eating Concerns

These issues rarely arise in isolation. Often, they develop in response to emotional distress, trauma, identity struggles, or a sense of not feeling “good enough.” For some, controlling food or weight becomes a way to manage anxiety, gain a sense of agency, or express unspoken pain.

Social and cultural influences also play a powerful role — including diet culture, weight stigma, appearance-based expectations, and internalised messages about health, morality, or worth.

Early life experiences such as bullying, criticism, neglect, or pressure to perform can shape how a person views their body and their value. These experiences often lead to perfectionism, shame, or harsh inner criticism — patterns that fuel disordered eating and body image distress.

Therapy helps explore the emotional function behind eating and body-related behaviours, and works toward healing from the inside out — not just changing external behaviours.

How Psychologists Can Help

Support for eating disorders and body image concerns goes beyond food plans or appearance-focused goals. At Inner View Psychology, we provide a non-judgmental, collaborative space to understand your experience, strengthen your emotional resources, and support recovery in a way that aligns with your values and individual needs.

We work with people at all stages of the journey — from early concerns through to long-term recovery.

Therapy may help you:

• Understand the emotional drivers of disordered eating
• Develop healthier coping strategies for distress
• Explore and challenge body image beliefs
• Strengthen self-compassion and emotional regulation
• Reconnect with hunger, fullness, and body cues
• Address perfectionism, shame, and identity concerns
• Heal from trauma or emotional wounds underlying food and body struggles

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)

CBT for eating disorders focuses on the connection between thoughts, behaviours, and emotions related to food and body. You’ll learn to identify and challenge unhelpful thinking patterns (e.g. “I have no worth if I gain weight” or “I can’t trust my hunger”) and develop more flexible, balanced responses. CBT also helps interrupt cycles of restriction, bingeing, purging, or over-exercise, and supports the development of regular eating and body acceptance.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

ACT helps you step back from the relentless pursuit of body control or perfection, and instead focus on building a life that reflects your values. You’ll learn how to relate to painful thoughts and emotions without being consumed by them, and practise responding to internal discomfort in more flexible and compassionate ways. ACT is particularly helpful for managing shame, anxiety, and body-related distress while reconnecting with a broader sense of self.

Schema Therapy

Schema Therapy explores the deeper emotional patterns that often drive disordered eating — such as feeling unlovable, not good enough, or emotionally deprived. These patterns often originate in childhood and can fuel harsh self-criticism, people-pleasing, or control-oriented behaviours. Schema Therapy helps uncover and heal these schemas, meet unmet emotional needs, and build a more compassionate relationship with your body and food.