CBT Therapy for Women with Emotional and Behavioural Patterns That Feel Hard to Shift
A compassionate, evidence-based CBT approach for women struggling with self-criticism, body and self-worth concerns, eating-related difficulties, and emotional patterns that shift with cycles or life stage.
Includes psychological support for difficulties associated with cyclical mood changes, including PMDD related experiences and emotional shifts during peri-menopause and menopause
You May Recognise Yourself Here
You may recognise yourself if:
You feel pulled into the same cycles, even when you understand them
Your mood, self-confidence, or coping shifts with your cycle or life stage
Your inner critic is persistent and hard to soften
Eating patterns or body concerns may become more difficult during periods of stress or pressure
You swing between control and overwhelm
These patterns start to affect your relationships, work, or sense of self
Many people experiencing these difficulties are capable, thoughtful and highly responsible in other areas of their lives.
Often there is an underlying pattern beneath these experiences, ways of coping that may have developed for understandable reasons but have gradually become rigid or exhausting to maintain.
Therapy focuses on understanding this pattern clearly and building practical ways of responding differently.
Understanding the Pattern Beneath the Symptoms
Many women who manage a great deal in their lives cope with distress through systems of control.
This can show up in different areas of life, for example:
Strict control around food
Relentless productivity or difficulty slowing down
Emotional suppression
Very high personal standards
Often these strategies develop for understandable reasons and can help someone function well for long periods of time.
However, during periods of increased stress or during hormonal shifts such as the premenstrual phase, these systems can become more rigid.
When control becomes too tight, the mind and body often push back. This is when patterns such as binge-restrict eating, emotional overwhelm, or intense self-criticism can emerge.
In therapy we work to understand how these patterns have developed and explore more flexible ways of responding to distress, so that regulation is no longer driven primarily by pressure, perfectionism, or self-criticism.
Areas I Commonly Work With
Persistent self-criticism and shame
Cyclical mood difficulties and PMDD-related experiences
Emotional changes associated with peri-menopause or menopause
Binge eating, bulimia, and eating-related distress where outpatient psychological therapy is appropriate
Body image and self-worth difficulties
Patterns that intensify during stress, transitions, or life changes
Important Note: Therapy is psychological in focus and suitable for outpatient work. This practice is not weight-focused or diet-led. Eating and body concerns are explored within a psychological framework, with attention to safety, flexibility, and readiness for change.
For individuals experiencing severe eating disorder symptoms, significant medical complications, or where specialist multidisciplinary care may be required, alternative specialist services may be more appropriate
How Therapy Works
A practical, formulation-led CBT approach
Therapy is structured, active, and focused on meaningful change in everyday life. We begin by developing a shared formulation to understand the patterns that keep the difficulty going. From there, we use targeted CBT strategies alongside compassion-based principles to gradually test new ways of responding between sessions.
The pace of therapy is collaborative and carefully considered. Many of the people I work with are used to managing things alone and can feel self-critical or ashamed about certain behaviours. Sessions aim to provide a thoughtful, non-judgemental space where patterns can be explored openly and understood clearly, rather than blamed.
Where appropriate, we may also explore how everyday habits such as sleep, routine, stress management, and eating patterns interact with emotional wellbeing. This discussion is psychoeducational and supportive in nature and does not replace advice from medical or dietetic professionals.
These conversations remain secondary to the psychological work and are introduced gradually where relevant, with the aim of supporting stability and wellbeing rather than creating additional rules or pressure.
What To Expect From Therapy
1. Initial Consultation
A brief, no-pressure conversation to explore what’s bringing you to therapy and whether this approach feels like a good fit.
2. Assessment & Shared Formulation
We take time to map patterns, triggers, and maintaining factors, developing a clear and collaborative understanding of how difficulties have developed and persist.
3. Structured, Active Therapy
Sessions focus on practical CBT strategies, behavioural experiments, and compassion-focused tools, with learning and application between sessions.
4. Consolidation & Independence
As patterns shift, we focus on strengthening flexibility, confidence, and the ability to respond differently over time, with an emphasis on maintaining change beyond therapy.
If this resonates, you’re welcome to book a free initial consultation to explore fit. There’s no obligation to proceed