If you are concerned about eating habits and behaviors it might benefit you to be evaluated. An eating disorder diagnosis is best made by a mental health professional. Your Primary can provide you with a referral to a licensed psychologist (PhD / PsyD) who specializes in eating disorders, or a bariatric psychologist.
Can a therapist help with what you described? Yes. Be honest about what is going on and find someone you feel like you can connect with. This is so crucial because if you can't be open about what's going on they may be less able to help you.
I was in therapy for a long time with a therapist who specialized in eating disorders. The main focus was dealing with the stressors that led me to overeat. Whenever stress increased, so did my eating. I was the peacekeeping type who struggled to say when my feelings were hurt or when I felt bulldozed. I was walking on eggshells in my relationships to keep the peace.
The process can be emotionally draining. It forces you to deeply evaluate your behavior and there can be some uncomfortable truths. There were times I would dread going because I knew it would be a lot of work. At the time I thought, "This is hard but I'm trying to get myself better." With hindsight, I can see why my therapist pushed me, asked the tough questions, and made me accountable to my goals. I'm so much better now and I don't regret going.
These are some of the things we worked on:
Improving mood
Self-care
Cognitive restructuring/ CBT--changes the way you cope and react to stress
Mindful eating- eating at the dinner table, 30-45 minutes, smell food first, one small bite at a time, eat slowly, identify flavors and textures
Identified vulnerabilities
Identified triggers--that negatively impact mental health
Negative self-talk--challenge the truth behind the talk
Identified emotions
Behavior patterns
Full/ not full/ beyond full
Beliefs surrounding weightloss
Urge control--resist the urge to eat by distracting yourself for 1, 5, 10 mins
I kept a food and mood log. For a few weeks, I wrote down everything I ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I would rate my stress and hunger level from 1-10 and emotions/feelings--happy, stressed, sad, tired at each mealtime. If important, I would document a bit about my day like had a fun time with friends or had a fight with my husband. Like I said, every time I had a rough day, I skipped meals or overate. Not only did therapy give me clarity about what I was doing, but it also gave me tools to deal with it and improve. I'm not cured, but the pull to eat, eat, eat is quieter and the behavior/thoughts are less constant. Another benefit is my therapist had my back even when friends and family didn't. She could point out some of their crazy-making behavior and confirm it wasn't always me which made me feel better.
Good luck, I hope you get some peace. ❤️