The eating disorders I most often see in Singapore arrive disguised as achievement.
That is not a Singapore-specific phenomenon, but the environment sharpens it. In a city organised around performance, the behaviours that constitute a serious eating disorder are the behaviours the culture rewards: discipline, control, self-denial, optimisation, the refusal to be governed by appetite. Somebody training six mornings a week and eating with rigid precision does not look unwell. They look like they are winning.
This is why the disorder is so often years old before anyone treats it, and why the person themselves is often the last to name it.
The expatriate dimension
For the expatriate community there is a second layer. You are far from the people who knew you before, in a professional environment where visible difficulty carries a cost, and often on a package that makes staying well a practical necessity rather than only a personal one.
That combination produces a strong incentive to manage privately and indefinitely.
Why a clinician outside Singapore
Specialist eating disorder provision in Singapore exists but is limited, and the professional and expatriate communities are interconnected enough that discretion is not straightforward. Working with a clinician in London removes both problems. There is no local record, no waiting room and no possibility of professional overlap.
What you are getting
UKCP-registered psychotherapist and Jungian analyst, HCPC-registered art psychotherapist, professional doctorate from the University of Essex on male eating disorders, twenty-five years in the work. British registration is on a public register and can be checked without asking me.
I also treat the addiction that so often accompanies an eating disorder, which in high-performing populations frequently means alcohol. They are usually one problem in two costumes, and treating either alone tends not to hold.
Frequency is usually once to three times a week at the start. What that involves.
Common questions
Does the time difference work?
Yes. Singapore is seven or eight hours ahead of London depending on the season, which makes London mornings and Singapore evenings the natural slot.
Do you work with men?
Yes, and it is a particular specialism. My professional doctorate was on male eating disorders, which remain widely missed because most treatment models were derived from female populations.
Can this be done alongside a demanding job?
That is most of this practice. Sessions are arranged around the diary rather than the reverse, and nothing is disclosed to any employer without your written consent.