Therapy for Eating Disorders

Support with food, eating and body image that goes at your pace, with an accredited therapist by secure video.

Accredited therapists Fully confidential Evening & weekend times

Everything is confidentialWhat you say in a session stays in the session.

Secure video, Ireland-wideFrom wherever you feel comfortable, on any device.

No GP referral neededBook online in a couple of minutes.

Evening and weekend timesSessions that fit around work and family.

Could online therapy help me with an eating disorder?

Thoughts about food, weight, eating or your body can take up an enormous amount of room. Counting, checking, planning your day around meals, the shame that arrives after eating, the relief that never quite lasts. It is tiring, and it is usually private. Many people carry it for years before they say anything out loud to anyone.

You do not need a diagnosis to ask for help. Online therapy may support people experiencing anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and what is often called other specified feeding or eating disorder, which covers difficulties that are serious but do not fit neatly into one category. It may also help if your eating has become distressing and you have no label for it at all.

It tends to suit some situations particularly well:

You live somewhere rural, or in a town with no eating disorder service nearby
Travel is hard because of work, health, or caring for someone at home
You are continuing recovery after day-patient or inpatient treatment and want ongoing support
You find it easier to talk about food and your body from your own room than in a waiting room

Whether online work is right for you depends on more than preference. Your psychological needs, your physical health, your age, what home is like, and your current level of risk all come into it. That should be assessed properly by a qualified professional before regular therapy starts, not guessed at. Bodywhys, the national eating disorder association in Ireland, is a useful starting point if you want to read more first.

How does online eating disorder therapy work?

Everything happens by secure video, from wherever you feel comfortable. The shape of it is usually straightforward.

Stage	What usually happens
First enquiry	A short conversation about what you are struggling with and what you are looking for
Assessment	A longer appointment covering eating patterns, physical health, history and current risk
Agreed plan	What the work will focus on, how often you will meet, and who else may need to be involved
Regular sessions	Usually weekly, by secure video, with any between-session tasks agreed together
Reviews	Periodic check-ins on whether it is helping and whether the level of care still fits

A session itself is mostly talking. You might go through how eating has gone since you last met, what thoughts turned up around it, how you felt in your body, what you avoided, what went better than expected. Goals get set small and revisited honestly.

Plenty of the practical work adapts to video without much difficulty: planning meals, supported eating with the therapist present on screen, building skills for the hard moments, working on body image, and planning for the times when old patterns come back. Appointments may be individual, family-based, or in a group, and some people do a mix of online and in-person care where that is clinically sensible.

Not sure if this is the right fit?

A first session is just a conversation.

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What kinds of therapy and specialist support can I receive online?

The approaches with the strongest research behind them for eating disorders are set out in the NICE guideline on eating disorders (NG69), which is widely used across Ireland and the UK. They include:

Enhanced cognitive behavioural therapy, usually shortened to CBT-E
Family-based approaches, particularly for children and young people
Compassion-focused work, often where shame and self-criticism run deep
Other therapies chosen according to what is actually maintaining the difficulty for you

CBT-E looks at the mechanisms keeping the eating disorder going rather than at willpower. Restricting, bingeing, purging and judging yourself almost entirely on weight and shape tend to feed each other in a loop. The work is about noticing that loop in real time and changing it in steps you can actually manage.

Therapy on its own is often not enough. Joined-up care matters here more than in most areas of mental health, and that can mean a psychotherapist or psychologist working alongside your GP, a dietitian, a psychiatrist, and sometimes a family therapist. Dietetic input helps with nutrition and meal structure, psychiatric input is relevant where medication or more complex difficulties are involved, and family involvement is usually central for younger people.

Check who you are working with. Look for registration with a recognised body such as IACP, the Psychological Society of Ireland, or CORU, along with specific eating disorder training and real experience of spotting medical risk.

Is online therapy as effective as meeting a therapist in person?

Honest answer: remote psychological treatment can work well for some people, particularly when it is structured, led by someone with eating disorder experience, and matched to what you need. The research on remote eating disorder treatment specifically is younger and smaller than the research on in-person care, so it is fair to say the picture is encouraging rather than settled. NICE guidance focuses on which therapy you receive rather than on how it is delivered.

	Online care	In-person care
Access	Available anywhere in Ireland with a connection	Depends on what exists locally
Travel	None	Can be hours, and a reason people drop out
Privacy	Depends on your home set-up	Provided by the clinic
Physical checks	Coordinated with your GP or local clinician	Often done on site
Continuity	Easier to keep going through moves, illness and busy weeks	Interrupted more often by practicalities

The limitations are real too. Privacy at home can be difficult if you share space. Connections drop. Some assessments are harder to complete remotely. And because nobody is physically there, online work often asks for more structure and more accountability from you.

Online does not automatically mean a lower level of care. It can include group therapy, meal support and input from several professionals. But outcomes vary, which is exactly why reviews matter, and why hybrid or in-person treatment should be recommended if what you are getting is not meeting your clinical or medical needs.

How will my physical health and safety be monitored?

This part is not optional. Eating disorders can cause serious medical complications at any body size, including at a weight nobody around you would think twice about. Talking therapy does not replace medical assessment.

Remote treatment should be coordinated with your GP or another local clinician, who may carry out checks such as:

Blood pressure and pulse
Blood tests
An ECG where there is any concern about the heart
Weight and other monitoring chosen on clinical grounds

You should also have an agreed safety plan: an emergency contact, your consent for the professionals involved to talk to each other, and clear criteria for moving to face-to-face, day-patient or inpatient care if things deteriorate. Online therapy is not appropriate where there is medical instability, immediate danger, rapid deterioration, or a need for close supervision around eating.

If you need urgent help in Ireland, contact your GP or the GP out-of-hours service for an urgent assessment, go to your nearest emergency department, or call 112 or 999 if there is immediate danger. For support and information, the Bodywhys helpline is available on (01) 210 7906. It is a support line, not an emergency service, so check current opening hours and use the routes above in a crisis.

Frequently asked questions

How much does online eating disorder therapy cost in Ireland?

Fees vary a lot depending on the practitioner, the length of the session, and whether dietetic, psychiatric, family or group support is included in the package or charged separately. Ask for a written breakdown before you start, including what a review or a report costs, so there are no surprises three months in.

Can I access online therapy through the HSE or with private health insurance?

Your GP can refer you into HSE mental health and eating disorder services, though availability and waiting times differ by area. Some private health insurance policies contribute towards psychological therapy, and some do not, so ring your insurer and ask specifically what is covered, at what rate, and whether a GP referral is needed. For private counselling and psychotherapy you can self-refer without a GP letter.

What technology, privacy and home set-up do I need for online sessions?

Less than people expect. A device with a camera, a reasonably stable connection, and a secure video link that arrives by email, with nothing to install. Sessions should be on a platform that handles your data properly under GDPR.

Headphones, which make a real difference to privacy and to how close the conversation feels
A room where you will not be interrupted, or a parked car if home is not private
A few minutes either side of the session so you are not walking straight into something else

How can I take the first step towards support?

People often wait because they are not sure it is "serious enough". That question is almost impossible to answer from inside it, and it is not one you have to answer alone. If food or your body is taking up this much of your thinking, that is reason enough to ask.

It helps to have a few things to hand for a first conversation:

What is worrying you at the moment, in your own words
Any previous therapy or treatment, and what it was like
Your GP details and any relevant medical care or recent checks
When you could realistically attend, including evenings or weekends
Whether family or other professionals are already involved

You can book a confidential assessment with someone experienced in eating difficulties, by secure video, from anywhere in Ireland. Booking takes a couple of minutes and you do not need a GP letter. If your GP or HSE services are the better route for you, that is a good outcome too, and a first conversation should help you work that out. Nobody is going to judge what you say, and the point of that conversation is to find the safest, most suitable kind of support, whenever you feel ready.