Cognitive Hypnotherapy
Help for Emotional Eating in Godalming, Surrey
Personalised support to help you break the emotional eating cycle
Do you often find yourself eating when you’re not physically hungry?
Perhaps you reach for food when you feel stressed, bored, lonely or overwhelmed. You might promise yourself you’ll stop — only to find yourself back in the kitchen on autopilot.
Emotional eating can feel frustrating and exhausting. But it doesn’t mean you lack willpower — and it doesn’t have to control your life.
As a Cognitive Hypnotherapist based in Godalming, Surrey, I help clients understand and gently resolve the unconscious emotional patterns that drive emotional eating.
Taking the first step can feel daunting — a free discovery call lets you explore how hypnotherapy could help, with no pressure and no commitment.
700+
Clients Helped
17+
Years Experience
NCH & CNHC
Registered Hypnotherapist
90+
Reviews & Testimonials
Why Do We Emotionally Eat?
Emotional eating isn’t random. It makes sense when you understand how the brain works.
When we eat, our survival brain releases dopamine — a “feel good” hormone — to reward us. This evolved to remind us where food could be found in times of scarcity.
For many of us, our earliest experiences of food were also connected with comfort, bonding and pleasure — family meals, celebrations, sweets at parties.
During positive social connection, our brains release oxytocin and serotonin.
So food becomes linked not just with survival — but with comfort, connection and relief.
Our brains are designed to move us away from pain and toward pleasure. So when we experience sadness, boredom, loneliness, rejection or stress, the unconscious mind looks for something that restores balance.
It remembers: food helped before. And before you know it, you’re at the fridge or cupboard — almost automatically.
The Emotional Eating Cycle
The difficulty isn’t the eating itself — it’s what happens afterwards.
Once the dopamine settles and your conscious mind is fully back online, guilt, shame and frustration often follow. You may feel like you’ve failed again.
Those painful emotions then create the perfect conditions for the cycle to repeat.
This is why emotional eating can feel like a see-saw:
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Emotional trigger
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Automatic eating
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Temporary relief
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Guilt or shame
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Renewed emotional discomfort
And back around again.
Willpower alone rarely resolves this cycle — because the pattern lives in the unconscious mind.
How Cognitive Hypnotherapy Can Help
Cognitive Hypnotherapy works by accessing the unconscious patterns driving behaviour.
Using gentle, effective hypnotherapy techniques, we:
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Identify the emotions triggering your cravings
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Understand when and how the pattern first developed
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Separate present-day feelings from past experiences
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Develop healthier coping responses
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Reduce the emotional charge around food
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Restore a calmer, more balanced relationship with eating
This is not about strict dieting, control or criticism.
It’s about understanding what your mind has been trying to do for you — and updating that strategy in a way that truly supports you.
When the underlying emotional drivers are resolved, the urgency around food often softens naturally.
Emotional Eating Hypnotherapy
A Personalised, Compassionate Approach
Every client is different.
For some, emotional eating is linked to stress and pressure.
For others, it connects to loneliness, rejection or long-standing self-doubt.
For many women, especially in midlife, it can feel tied to identity, confidence or feeling unseen.
Our sessions are tailored entirely to you — your history, your triggers, your goals.
My aim is always to provide a calm, professional and effective service, helping you reach meaningful change in the shortest time appropriate for you.
What Shifts When the Pattern Changes?
When emotional eating no longer carries emotional charge:
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Cravings feel less urgent
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You pause instead of reacting automatically
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Guilt reduces
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Food becomes neutral rather than emotional
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You feel more in control
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Your confidence increases
You begin responding — rather than reacting. And that changes everything.
Client Success Stories Emotional Eating
Yes would definitely recommend this service to others. After trying multiple other avenues for help, including psychodynamic therapy, CBT and even some psychiatry, this is the first therapy that has actually helped me to change my habits and maintain those changes. I have maintained a healthy lifestyle now for 2 months, and have begun to see the rewards, having lost 4kg of weight over that timeframe.
MR Godalming, Surrey
I am very happy with the treatment & results I have achieved in addressing my weight issues. My first session with Laurie was initially a bit daunting, but she quickly put me at ease. I am happy that I am now in control of my weight and am confident that this will carry on into the future. Thanks Laurie.
GM Godalming
I had the good fortune to discover Laurie having spent many years seeing various therapists and counsellors. I was in a place where I knew I had more work to do and the reasons I still had issues with eating and weight gain. What a joy it has been working with Laurie. Her training, knowledge, professionalism and obvious love and respect for her chosen career and her clients shines through. I highly recommend Laurie and encourage anyone to seek her out to help enable personal growth in their lives in whatever way they need. She is a great companion to have on these travels.
MF Godalming, Surrey
In-Person Hypnotherapy in Godalming, Surrey or Online
My treatment rooms are located at Lucks Yard, Godalming, Surrey.
I also offer online hypnotherapy sessions via Zoom, which are equally effective and convenient.
Clients travel from Godalming, Haslemere, Guildford and surrounding Surrey areas for in-person support, while others appreciate the flexibility of working online.
Ready to Take Back Control?
If you would like to take the first step towards resolving emotional eating and restoring a calmer relationship with food, I warmly invite you to get in touch.
You can complete the contact form below to begin a confidential, no-obligation, exploratory conversation about how we might work together.