Food, control and the move abroad
Relocation often reawakens what was quiet. The move strips away routine, familiar food, support, identity, and the eating takes over the regulation: the binge alone in the new apartment, the restriction that gives control when everything else is foreign, the gym that slides into punishment. In a new country, with no one watching, an eating disorder has room to grow, and the shame of it keeps it invisible.
Dr Philippe Jacquet holds a doctorate in male eating disorders and has worked for twenty-five years across eating disorders and addiction, which so often share one architecture. He sees the international community of Lisbon and Portugal by secure video, in English and French, on Lisbon time: anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, and the food struggles that never got a name. Men are the specialism, not a sideline: men’s eating disorders.
The first conversation is often the first time it has ever been spoken. It is confidential and without commitment. Book here.
Common questions
Is there English-speaking eating disorder help in Lisbon?
Yes: Dr Philippe Jacquet sees clients in Lisbon and across Portugal by secure video, in English and French, from his Harley Street practice. He holds a doctorate in male eating disorders and has spent twenty-five years working across eating disorders and addiction.
What does relocation do to an eating disorder?
It often reawakens it. The move strips away routine, support and identity, and food is the oldest regulator there is: the binge in the new apartment, the restriction that gives a sense of control when everything else is foreign, the exercise that becomes punishment. The disorder speaks the distress the move never allowed.
Do you work with men?
It is the specialism: Dr Jacquet's doctorate is specifically on eating disorders in men, who almost never seek help and almost always suffer alone. Many of his male clients have never said the words out loud before the first session.
How does treatment work from Portugal?
By secure video on Lisbon time, in English or French. The work is psychotherapy: understanding what the food behaviour does for you, treating what sits underneath, and rebuilding a liveable relationship with eating and the body. In-person sessions are available in London when you travel.