Therapy for Endometriosis
When endometriosis takes up so much space there's barely any left for you.
You've spent years fighting to be believed. Fighting through pain, through appointments, through partners and colleagues and doctors who didn't quite get it. And somewhere in all of that fighting, you lost track of who you are when you're not managing your endo.
I'm Aimee, a psychotherapist specialising in working with women on identity, relationships and the patterns that keep repeating no matter how hard you try to change them.
I also have endometriosis, so when I say I understand what it does to your sense of self, your body and your closest relationships, I mean that in more ways than one. Endometriosis isn't just a physical condition. It gets into everything.
Endometriosis and the pain of never quite being believed.
Before we even get to endo’s impact on relationships, intimacy or identity, there's something that needs naming:
You probably spent years being told it was just “bad periods”, that everyone feels like this or that you were being a bit dramatic and a hot water bottle would sort you out.
Meanwhile you were managing a level of pain that would floor most people, whilst turning up, holding it together and quietly wondering if you were going mad.
That experience leaves a mark. Not just on your body, but on how much you trust your own perceptions. On how loudly you feel able to speak up, in medical settings, in relationships and in your own life. And especially on whether you believe your needs are worth the fuss.
That's what years of not being believed does to a woman.
What endometriosis does to your relationships, your sex life and your sense of yourself.
Endometriosis doesn't just live in your body. It reshapes how you see yourself.
Sex becomes something to negotiate rather than enjoy. You pull away from intimacy… not because you don't want connection, but because your body has made connection feel complicated, painful, or loaded with shame. Over time desire can get buried under pain management, while the version of yourself that felt at home in her body starts to feel very far away.
There's the relational weight of it too. The guilt of cancelled plans. The exhaustion of explaining yourself. The fear that eventually the people you love will run out of patience.
And then there's the identity question that sits underneath all of it: who are you when your body has been the thing you've been fighting, managing and apologising for most of your adult life? And where is the grief for the version of yourself that existed before endo became the thing your entire life organises itself around?
Why endometriosis and losing yourself in relationships often go hand in hand.
Here's something that comes up again and again in therapy with women who have endometriosis:
The same skills that got you through years of undiagnosed pain (minimising, adapting, putting others at ease, pushing through and not making a fuss) are the same patterns that show up in your relationships.
You've become extraordinarily good at making yourself smaller so that other people are comfortable, anticipating what everyone else needs before they've asked and managing your pain quietly so it doesn't inconvenience anyone.
At some point that stopped being just about the endo, it became how you move through the world, how you love… And how you lose yourself.
That's what chronic pain and chronic dismissal teaches a woman about her own worth. It's exactly the kind of pattern that depth therapy can actually get underneath.
Endometriosis therapy that goes beyond pain management.
Most support for endometriosis focuses on the physical: surgery, medication, pain management, lifestyle changes. And if you've navigated all of that and you're still here, reading this, you already know it doesn't touch the psychological weight of it.
The therapy I offer isn't about managing endometriosis. It's about understanding what living with endo has done to your sense of self, your relationships, and the patterns you've developed to survive it.
That means we might explore why you find it so hard to ask for what you need, in relationships and in medical settings. What it means that you've spent years minimising your own pain for the comfort of others. How chronic dismissal has shaped what you believe you deserve. What intimacy, desire, and your own body mean to you now, and what you want them to mean.
This is depth work. It's not quick and it's not always comfortable. But it's the kind of work that shifts something.
Frequently asked questions about therapy for endometriosis.
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Endometriosis is a chronic condition where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside it, throughout the body. It affects an estimated 1 in 10 women and people assigned female at birth, takes an average of eight years to diagnose, and causes significant physical, psychological, and relational impact. It is vastly underresearched and underfunded relative to its prevalence.
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Adenomyosis occurs when tissue similar to the uterine lining grows into the muscular wall of the uterus itself. It frequently co-occurs with endometriosis and shares many of the same symptoms, including severe pain, heavy bleeding and significant impact on quality of life. Many women receive an adenomyosis diagnosis after years of being dismissed, often long after an endometriosis diagnosis or following childbirth.
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Therapy won't treat the physical condition, but it can address the mental health impact of endometriosis: what living with it does to your identity, your relationships, your sense of worth and your capacity for intimacy and sex. Many women find that the psychological weight of endo (medical gaslighting, the grief, the self-minimising…) needs its own space entirely separate from medical treatment.
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Endometriosis doesn't just affect the body. It affects how you see yourself as a sexual being, how much you trust your body and how safe vulnerability feels in your closest relationships. Pain during sex, fatigue and years of not being taken seriously all leave a mark on desire, connection and how much space you feel entitled to take up in relationships.
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No, definitely not. Many women come to therapy while still navigating the diagnostic process, which can take years. If your experience resonates with what's described on this page, that's enough to start a conversation.
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Honest, warm, and not always comfortable! I'm not a nod-and-reflect therapist. I'll notice things, name things and sometimes say the thing you weren't quite prepared to hear. But I'll do it with care and I'll always follow your lead on pace. Expect real conversation, occasional swearing, and no generic advice about logging symptoms.
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Many women with endometriosis also experience PMDD. If that resonates, you might find this page useful.
I offer endometriosis therapy and counselling online across the UK. Not managing endo, but understanding what living with it has done to you and the relationships you're trying to hold together.
Book a free 20 minute intro call to talk about what's bringing you here and whether working together feels like the right fit.