Trauma

Trauma and Eating Disorders

Many people experiencing eating disorders or significant body image distress have also lived through difficult, overwhelming, or frightening life events. Trauma does not cause an eating disorder in every case, but traumatic experiences, whether acute, chronic, or relational, can strongly influence how a person copes with emotions, their body, and their sense of self.
At The London Centre, we provide trauma-informed, specialist psychological treatment for individuals whose eating disorder or body image concerns are shaped, maintained, or complicated by experiences of trauma.

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Trauma explained

What Do We Mean By Trauma

Traumatic experiences can affect thoughts, emotions, behaviour, and the body. They also shape how safe a person feels in relationships and how they relate to their own physical sensations, a particularly important aspect in eating disorder recovery.


Trauma refers to any event or series of events that overwhelm a person’s ability to cope and process what has happened. This may include:

  • Single-event traumas, such as accidents, bereavement, assaults or medical emergencies
  • Chronic or repeated trauma, including childhood emotional neglect, bullying, relational trauma, or domestic abuse
  • Complex developmental trauma, where early experiences significantly shape core beliefs, attachment, and emotional regulation
  • Trauma embedded within eating disorder experiences, such as medical complications, coercive comments around weight or food, or distressing treatment encounters
Trauma explained

The Link Between Trauma and Eating Disorders

Trauma and eating disorders frequently co-occur. For some individuals, eating disorder symptoms initially develop as a way of coping with overwhelming emotions related to traumatic experiences, or as a way of regaining a sense of control. For others, the physical and psychological consequences of an eating disorder create traumatic experiences in their own right.

Common ways trauma may interact with eating disorders include:

  • Using food restriction, bingeing, or purging to manage distressing emotions
  • Detachment from bodily signals, which can feel protective after traumatic events
  • Shame, self-criticism or negative self-beliefs stemming from early adverse experiences
  • Avoidance of emotions, memories, or sensations that feel unsafe
  • Heightened anxiety or hypervigilance, making nourishment and recovery feel overwhelming

Understanding this interplay is essential. Trauma-related symptoms such as flashbacks, dissociation, and high emotional arousal can make standard eating disorder treatment more challenging without tailored support.

ASPECTS OF IMPORTANCE

Complex Trauma and Emotional Regulation Difficulties

Complex trauma refers to chronic, repeated, or relationally based traumatic experiences, most often occurring during childhood or adolescence. These experiences shape emotional regulation, identity development, self-worth, and patterns of relating to others.

Some individuals with complex trauma histories may meet criteria for what is sometimes diagnosed as Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD). Increasingly, clinical research and specialist practice recognise that many features associated with EUPD, such as emotional intensity, fear of abandonment, unstable self-image, impulsivity, and relational difficulties can be understood as adaptive responses to early trauma, rather than fixed personality traits.

At The London Centre, we approach these presentations through a complex trauma formulation, rather than focusing solely on diagnostic labels.

OUR APPROACH

Complex Trauma, Eating Disorders and Coping Patterns

For individuals with complex trauma, eating disorder behaviours often function as attempts to manage intense emotions, create predictability, or protect against relational pain. Difficulties with emotional regulation, identity, and safety can become closely intertwined with food, weight, and body image.  

This overlap may include:

  • Rapid emotional shifts that feel difficult to contain
  • Strong fear of rejection or abandonment
  • Persistent shame or harsh self-criticism
  • Dissociation or feeling detached from the body
  • Compulsive or impulsive eating behaviours
  • A sense of identity becoming tied to body, food, or control

Understanding these patterns as survival-based responses allows therapy to be compassionate, collaborative, and effective.  Stepping away from these protective strategies needs careful consideration, planning and treatment of the underlying distress.

Our Trauma-Informed Approach

Every clinician at The London Centre works in a trauma-informed way, meaning we prioritise safety, stabilisation, trust, and emotional regulation throughout treatment. We validate differences in how people respond to trauma rather than pathologising those responses, an approach grounded in compassion and clinical evidence.
Key features of our approach include:

  • Creating safety and stabilisation before trauma processing
  • Pacing therapy carefully to ensure emotional overwhelm is avoided
  • Supporting clients to understand their responses as adaptations, not failures
  • Integrating nutrition, psychology, and psychiatry where appropriate
  • Sensitivity to sensory, emotional, and cognitive differences, especially in individuals with neurodevelopmental conditions
  • Addressing trauma only when it is safe to do so and always tailored to the individual
Personalised Care

Therapies We Use for Trauma Within Eating Disorder Treatment

Your treatment plan will be based on your individual circumstances and may integrate several evidence-based models. Our clinicians draw on:

  • EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) — effective for single-event and complex trauma
  • Trauma-informed CBT and CBT-TR, supporting emotional regulation and symptom interruption
  • Schema Therapy, particularly helpful for long-standing patterns rooted in early adverse experiences
  • DBT-informed approaches, supporting emotion tolerance and stabilisation
  • MANTRA, which explores early experiences and thinking styles relevant to eating disorders
  • Compassion-Focused Therapy, reducing shame and self-criticism often linked to trauma
  • Family Therapy, where trauma and relational patterns impact family dynamics
  • Psychiatry input if medication may support stabilisation or trauma-related symptoms
  • Dietetics and Occupational Therapy, where trauma affects sensory regulation, routines, or nourishment

These approaches are adapted to your pace, needs, and goals, ensuring clinical safety and meaningful progress.

You may benefit from trauma-informed eating disorder treatment if you experience:

  • Persistent shame, self-criticism or negative beliefs about yourself
  • Avoidance of emotions, situations, memories, or parts of your body
  • Flashbacks, nightmares, or intrusive memories
  • High levels of anxiety, dissociation, or emotional numbness
  • Difficulty trusting others or forming safe relationships
  • Food restriction or bingeing to manage distress
  • Intense body image dissatisfaction linked to past experiences

Our clinicians will help you understand whether trauma-focused therapy may be clinically indicated and ensure that stabilisation and nutrition are central to the process.

When to Seek Specialist Trauma-Informed Support

What to Expect From Trauma-Informed Treatment at The London Centre

  • A safe, non-judgemental space
  • Strategies to manage overwhelming emotions
  • A carefully paced plan focused on stabilisation first
  • Support to reconnect with bodily signals and rebuild trust in the body
  • A clearer understanding of how past experiences influence current patterns
  • Evidence-based trauma treatment integrated with specialist eating disorder care
  • A collaborative team approach with psychology, psychiatry, dietetics, and OT where helpful
FAQs

FAQs About Trauma

As a specialist eating disorder and body image clinic, we treat trauma when it is connected to eating disorders, body image concerns, or feeding difficulties. We would not typically offer stand-alone trauma treatment unrelated to these difficulties.

Not always. Many people benefit from stabilisation, emotion regulation, and addressing the impact of trauma without reliving events. If trauma-focused work is appropriate, it will be paced carefully and collaboratively.

Yes. Several clinicians are trained in EMDR, which can be highly effective for trauma linked to eating disorders. It is only offered when clinically safe and appropriate.

We make therapeutic adaptations such as slowing the pace, integrating sensory considerations, using more visual structure, and validating differences rather than pathologising them.

Yes. Trauma and eating disorder treatment often occur alongside one another. Your clinician will ensure the timing and focus are safe and clinically appropriate.