Finding Support and Recovery

Talk to someone today

The Butterfly National Helpline offers confidential support for people concerned about eating disorders or body image, including family and friends. Call 1800 33 4673 or visit the Butterfly helpline.

A team approach

• A doctor with eating disorder experience to assess and monitor your physical health
• A psychologist or therapist with eating disorder experience
• A dietitian who specialises in eating disorders
• Peer support from someone with lived experience, alongside specialist care
• The people who love you, who can be an important part of the team, especially for young people or children.

Therapies with good research

• Family-based treatment can help young people with anorexia, with guidance for parents and carers as they support recovery [1].
• Cognitive behavioural therapy adapted for eating disorders (CBT-ED) is one option for adults. The care team can help you choose an approach that fits your diagnosis and circumstances.

Other emerging therapies

Psychedelic-assisted therapy

Researchers are exploring whether psilocybin, given with psychological support, might help people with anorexia nervosa loosen rigid thoughts about food, weight and body image. In a small 2023 pilot study published in Nature Medicine, some of the 10 women who took part reported improvements in eating disorder symptoms [2].

The InsideOut Institute's Panorexia trial is studying psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for people with anorexia nervosa who haven't benefited enough from existing treatments. One question is whether the experience, combined with therapy, could help people relate differently to entrenched thoughts and feel more able to engage in recovery. For now, this approach remains experimental, and the early findings in anorexia can't be generalised to other eating disorders [3].

MDMA-assisted therapy is another area of research, especially where trauma and disordered eating overlap. In a trial for adults with severe PTSD, researchers found early signs that eating disorder symptoms might also improve. Those symptoms were an exploratory measure, so the findings don't establish MDMA as a treatment for eating disorders [4]. A separate feasibility study was designed to look directly at MDMA-assisted therapy for restrictive anorexia nervosa and binge eating disorder [5].

Ketamine has also been explored in a small case series involving people with longstanding eating disorders and treatment-resistant depression. Some participants improved, but without a comparison group, it's hard to know how much of the change came from ketamine or whether improvements in eating symptoms were linked to changes in mood. Both approaches remain experimental for eating disorders [6].

Making room for recovery

A hard day doesn't erase the work you've done. Recovery can mean getting back some of the time and attention that food or body worries took from you.

You can care for your body on days when you find it hard to be in it.

Notice what fuels it

Notice when social media, body comments or pressure to look a certain way for an event make old rules feel louder. Give yourself permission to step back from what fuels them.