Priory Hospital Glasgow

Our specialists have years of experience delivering eating disorder treatment programmes, in there different therapy formats. Our expert team is made up of:

• Psychiatrists
• Psychologists
• Therapists
• Dietitians
• Occupational Therapists
• 24/7 nursing support
• 24/7 medical support

Our team at the Priory Hospital Glasgow can help you:

• Address the causes and triggers for your irrational fears and unhealthy eating habits
• Tackle your dysfunctional behaviours
• Improve your health, wellbeing and quality of life, and support you to get back on track
• Develop a healthier relationship with food
• Address the underlying issues that may be making your anorexia worse
• Improve your self-esteem
• Learn effective coping strategies to manage anorexia in the future
• Identify triggers for your unhealthy eating habits and give you techniques to overcome them

How group therapy helps people with eating disorders?

• Therapy groups allows people to gain insight as well as see and observe eating disorders in relation to the group.
• Helps relieve emotional pain, untie isolation, resolve distress, provide healing and bring about changes to a person’s thoughts and emotions as well as their personal relations.
• Working in a group setting, making connections and sharing experiences can provide people with the crucial opportunity to be heard and seen, helping them to understand that they are not alone.
• Gain invaluable experiences and interpersonal skills to help them confront unhelpful behaviours and thought processes.

As a team we welcome feedback from patients of ways we can improve our group programme. We have an anonymous online feedback form that can be accessed at anytime. 

If you would like to provide written feedback please let any member of the therapy know to support you with this

The assertiveness and boundaries group aims to empower individuals with the ability to understand their own behaviour and attitudes and the impact this has on their interpersonal relationships. The series will run over eight weeks and will address the topics of assertiveness and boundaries, both independently as well as the interaction that exists between the two skills with the hope of equipping each individual with the ability to apply these within their interpersonal relationships. This group is dependent on active participation to facilitate self-awareness development as well as to encourage application and carryover of skills explored.

Over the 8 sessions, this groups will cover:

1. Assertiveness
2. The  4 behaviour styles
3. Expressing my needs
4. Saying ‘no’
5. Boundaries
6. Core values
7. Boundaries and values
8. Closing and reflections

The balanced lifestyle group is designed to provide group members with an introduction to the importance of having balanced routines that incorporate self-care, leisure and productive activities in day-to-day life. The aim is that by the end of the group those attending will have an awareness of their own individual routines and can use strategies to improve their ability to attend to day-to-day tasks. The group will incorporate both psycho-education on the theory of motivation and the Model of Human Occupation, as well as practical activities as a means of developing skills to address individual needs.

Balanced Lifestyle is a 4-week programme which explores:

1. Introduction to routines and the importance of self-care, leisure and productivity
2. Maslow’s hierarchy of need
3. The concept of ‘Flow’
4. Motivation and participation

BodyWise aims to provide a structured and safe space for individuals to begin voicing and exploring their thoughts about their body image. It is aimed at helping people with negative body image that have or are recovering from an eating disorder.

BodyWise is an 8-week programme and introduce topics, such as:

1. What is body image?
2. What is normal?
3. Effects of media on body image
4. ‘Feeling fat’: what are we really saying?
5. Perception and self-defeating behaviours
6. Body image and Identity
7. Learning to like my body- accepting change
8. Ending the programme

Mountford, V., & Brown, A. (2015). BodyWise: a low intensity group to address body image disturbance. In Brief Group Psychotherapy for Eating Disorders (pp. 176-197). Routledge.

Tchanturia, K. (Ed.). (2015). Brief group psychotherapy for eating disorders: inpatient protocols. Routledge.

As you progress through treatment and with approval from the multi-disciplinary team, you will be able to participate in Breakfast Club. According to your treatment stage and with the input of the Occupational Therapist and your Dietitian, you are likely to participate in Meal Prep groups, snack challenges, and other 1:1 eating skill sessions. On certain days, some patients will be able to portion their own main meals with the supervision of the catering team.

These groups aim to challenge your eating disorder and introduce you to what may be difficult eating situations in a graded way.

Exploring Identity is an Occupational Therapy-based group which will run as a closed group to facilitate consistency and assist group members in feeling comfortable in reflecting within a safe environment. The main aim of the group is to develop cohesion amongst individuals in order to allow for the development of healthy social interaction skills whilst facilitating a focus on exploring their personal identities apart from their eating disorders. The sessions will be guided by the group process and the themes that are currently pertinent for the patients whilst maintaining an overall focus on identity.

The Exploring Identity group consists of 8 sessions which discuss:

1. Carousal of self-discovery
2. Introversion vs Extroversion
3. Group Poster
4. Letter from spirit guide
5. My ideal village
6. Group awards
7. ‘I am’
8. The affirmation envelope

Nutrition Education is offered on a weekly basis as part of the group programme. The aims are to awaken awareness to the benefits of healthy eating in contrast to the unhealthy physical and psychological consequences of following disordered eating when an individual is compelled to follow eating disorder ‘rules’.

Nutrition Education is a 12-week programme and introduce topics, such as:

1. Healthy eating, cycle of change, SMART goals
2. Minnesota study
3. Metabolism 
4. Eating behaviours: hunger + satiety + digestion
5. Water and hydration-effect on weight. BMI range
6. Compensatory behaviours
7. Understanding your meal plan
8. Role of macronutrients
9. Relapse Prevention
10. Recovery Plan
11. Common perceptions around food
12. Challenging feared/avoided foods

Perfectionism is a group-based intervention which targets the presentation and exploration of the cycle of perfectionism and concludes with shifting the focus to a more attainable cycle of appropriate self-standards.

Perfectionism is a 10-week programme and covers:

1. What is perfectionism?
2. Advantages and disadvantages of perfectionism
3. Understanding perfectionism
4. What keeps perfectionism going?
5. Perfectionism maintenance cycle
6. Reducing unrelenting standards
7. Challenging perfectionistic thoughts
8. Rules and assumptions
9. Self-worth and perfectionistic mind set
10. Review and evaluation

Lloyd, S., Fleming, C., & Tchanturia, K. (2015). Perfectionism short format group for inpatients. Brief group psychotherapy for eating disorders: Inpatient protocols, 107-120.

The Sensory Wellbeing group is designed to provide group members with an introduction to the sensory system and developing practical applications to help develop sensory strategies. The aim is that by the end of the group those attending will have enough of an awareness of their own sensory needs and the ability to use strategies to self-regulate. The group will incorporate both psycho-education surrounding sensory regulation as well as practical activities as a means of developing skills to address individual sensory needs.

Sensory Wellbeing group is a 7-week programme which discusses:

1. Introduction to our sensory systems and understanding hypersensitivity and hyposensitivity 
2. The Visual Sensory System
3. The Auditory Sensory System
4. The Olfactory Sensory System
5. The Gustatory Sensory System
6. The Tactile Sensory System
7. The Vestibular, Interoception & Proprioceptive System

This group aims to deliver psychoeducation on relevant topics to develop a clear understanding and resolve any misconceptions of eating disorders.

Attendance at this group is open to everyone no matter what your personal challenges may be or what stage of treatment you are in. The content of this group changes regularly based on the feedback and needs of the group members

Some of the topics that have been covered previously include:

• Core Beliefs & Formulations
• Safety Behaviours and Alternative Behaviours
• Healthy and Unhealthy Exercise
• Unhelpful cycles in eating disorders
• Perfectionism
• Brain & Body effects of eating disorders
• The effects of starvation

Weekly Goal Setting groups gives you the opportunity to think about what goals you would like to set for yourself each week and any potential challenges that may interfere with reaching your goal. This group will allow you to consider what actions, tasks, resources, or support you may need in order to reach your goal.

This group makes use of SMART goals which help focus your efforts and increase the chances of achieving your goal:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant/Realistic
• Timely

Art therapy is part of the group programme and is offered once a week. It involves drawing, painting or sculpting in the presence of an art therapist.  You may be able to express or communicate feelings or thoughts that are difficult to put into words.  The art therapist can work with you towards an understanding of issues and feelings that may underlie your current difficulties.

For most of us there are times in our lives when we experience anxiety or distress.  Sometimes such worries are due to current circumstances, for example bereavement, problems with relationships or illness.  Art therapy provides a safe, consistent environment in which to examine such issues at your own pace.  It is not always an easy process but it may help you to make discoveries about yourself and enable you to make positive changes in your life.

You do not have to be good at art and there is no right or wrong way to make art in therapy.  Any mark or form made in art therapy is valued.  The process of making decisions may help you to become more aware of thoughts and feelings that were otherwise hidden. Therefore this process can be as important as the final picture or end result. The session is divided into 2 parts: an initial period of art making where a wide range of materials will be available, followed by a group discussion where individuals can share feelings and responses to the art work and process.

Compassion, in essence, is basic kindness, with a deep awareness of the distress of oneself and of other living things, coupled with the wish and effort to relieve it.

Compassionate Mind is designed to be interactive and involve psychoeducation, group discussion, group exercises, alongside mindfulness and imagery exercises. The group will provide psychoeducation on compassion and introduce strategies to begin developing self-compassion. The aims of Compassion Focused Therapy are to help people build up a more compassionate way of being with themselves and others.

Evans, J. (2015). An introduction to compassion group for eating disorders. In Brief Group Psychotherapy for Eating Disorders (pp. 147-175). Routledge.

Gilbert, P. (2009). The compassionate mind. Robinson.

Tchanturia, K. (Ed.). (2015). Brief group psychotherapy for eating disorders: inpatient protocols. Routledge.

The aim of CRT is to help exercise connections in the brain in the hope that this will improve function. This is based on the idea that networks in the brain will be activated and less used parts of the brain will be involved after cognitive exercises. A further aim of CRT is guided by research evidence which shows that by being motivated to change and the confidence that you can learn throughout life and making use from your mistakes can make it possible to succeed desirable aims in all aspects of life.

Cognitive remediation therapy is a 10-week programme that:

• Consists of mental exercises aimed at improving cognitive strategies, thinking skills and information processing through practice
• Promotes reflection on thinking styles
• Encourages thinking about thinking
• Helps to explore new thinking strategies in everyday life

Tchanturia K., Davies H., Reeder C., Wykes T. (2010). Cognitive Remediation Therapy for Anorexia Nervosa. Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London.

CREST takes an interactive approach to helping participants think about emotions. The main focus of CREST is: emotional awareness, emotion regulation, emotion processing skills, promoting micro skills in social communication and self-regulation/ self-awareness.

CREST consists of 10 sessions where we will explore:

1. What are emotions and why do we have them?
2. How do we identify emotions?
3. Emotion Continuum
4. Emotion expression and suppression
5. Emotions and Needs
6. Communicating our emotions
7. Beliefs about emotions
8. Positive Emotions
9. The emotional lives of others
10.  Closing session

Tchanturia K., Davies H., Reeder C., Wykes T. (2010). Cognitive Remediation Therapy for Anorexia Nervosa. Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London.

Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) is a type of therapy adapted for people who feel emotions very intensely. Its main goals are to teach people how to live in the moment, develop healthy ways to cope with stress, regulate their emotions, and improve their relationships with others.

The aim of DBT is to help you:

• Understand and accept your difficult feelings
• Learn skills to manage them
• Become able to make positive changes in your life

Linehan, M. (2014). DBT Skills training manual. Guilford Publications.

Horticulture Therapy is a group based programme which encourages individuals to reflect on their own relationship with nature and start to explore how bringing nature into your home can improve mental and emotional wellbeing. The aim of Horticulture Therapy is to leave you with a renewed appreciate of plant-life and the practical tools you need to recoup the wellness benefits of plants.

Horticulture Therapy will introduce topics, such as:

• Mental health, stress, and nature
• Plants and health
• Plants and productivity
• Happiness and mood-boosting benefits
• Properties of plants that help us relax
• The restorative properties of plants
• A sensory meditation with plants
• How to live and care for plants

Cooper, K. (2020). Plant Therapy: How an Indoor Green Oasis Can Improve Your Mental and Emotional Wellbeing. Hardie Grant London.

LEAP is an 8-session group that takes a cognitive-behavioural approach to the treatment of compulsive exercise in the eating disorders. It is essential that a trusting, collaborative relationship is established between the service user and the therapist, and that they share a common goal, that of overcoming an exercise problem where appropriate, and/or of promoting ‘healthy’ attitudes, beliefs and behaviours toward exercise.

LEAP is an 8-week programme and addresses:

1. Orientation into the programme
2. Interpreting exercise profile
3. Healthy and unhealthy exercise
4. Initiating and maintaining factors
5. Compulsive exercise and Eating Disorders
6. Myths and facts
7. Behavioural rigidity
8. Activity anorexia

Taranis L, Touyz S., La Puma M., Meyer C. (2011). Group Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for Compulsive Exercise in the Eating Disorders: Therapist Manual. Loughborough University Centre for Research in Eating Disorders.

The MANTRA MI group will use motivational enhancement to explore the concept of change in general, and in the context of eating disorders and treatment. We will not be convincing you to change anything, simply exploring and thinking about some of the factors that can make change daunting and difficult and considering ways to move forward in the cycle of change. This will be discussed in general terms, and with focus on the eating disorder using tasks and exercises from MANTRA workbook.

The group will involve psychoeducation, group discussion and written exercises over 8 weeks on the following topics:

1. Exploring change
2. The cycle of change
3. Importance of change
4. Confidence to change 
5. My eating disorder – friend and enemy
6. My eating disorder – how has it changed my life?
7. Eating disorder and values
8. Thinking about the future 

Mindfulness is a technique you can learn which involves noticing what's happening in the present moment, without judgement. You might take notice and be aware of your mind, body or surroundings. The technique has roots in Buddhism and meditation, but you don't have to be spiritual, or have any particular beliefs, to try it.

Mindfulness aims to help you:

• become more self-aware
• feel calmer and less stressed
• feel abler to choose how to respond to your thoughts and feelings
• cope with difficult or unhelpful thoughts
• be kinder towards yourself.

RO-DBT is an evidence-based treatment that targets disorders, such as eating disorders, characterised by excessive inhibitory control, or over control. RO-DBT encourages radically openness, which involves developing a passion for going opposite to where you are. It represents an intention to more deeply explore areas in your life that are difficult and suggests we are unable to see things as they are, but instead that we see things as we are.

RO-DBT focuses on social-signalling, openness and social connectedness skills with an aim to build:

• Flexible responding to the demands of the moment
• Emphasis on the importance of authentic emotional expression to build positive interpersonal relationships
• Self-enquiry into our usual responses
• Ability to manage unexpected or challenging feedback

Lynch, T. R. (2018). The Skills Training Manual for Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy: A Clinician's Guide for Treating Disorders of Overcontrol. New Harbinger Publications.

Trauma Recovery and Empowerment Model (TREM) is designed to facilitate trauma recovery among women with histories of exposure to sexual, physical, and emotional abuse.

TREM is a 12-week programme and introduce topics, such as:

1. Introduction to TREM
2. What it means to be a woman
3. What do you know and how do you feel about your body?
4. Physical boundaries
5. Emotional boundaries: Setting limits and asking for what you want
6. Self-esteem
7. Developing ways to feel better: Self-soothing
8. Intimacy and trust
9. Female sexuality
10. Sex with a partner
11. Transition session from empowerment to trauma recovery
12. Gaining an understanding of trauma

Harris, M. (1998). Trauma recovery and empowerment: A clinician’s guide for working with women in groups. New York, NY: The Free Press.