Meaning of "Fully Recovered" from an eating disorder


A thirty-three year old man wrote to me saying he had been a binge eater most of his life and now was fully recovered. Food has been a non issue for two years.

Of course, I am glad he is happy with the strides he has made in his life. But his post got me to thinking about what recovery means.

I have been working since 1980 with people who have and who have had eating disorders.  People have many different attitudes and definitions of being fully recovered.

Recovery work involves developing your mind, heart, body and soul from a fragile and insubstantial state to a more mature and capable condition that is your authentic you.

You can heal your way, develop your way, grow your way out of an eating disorder.  Solid recovery from an eating disorder is not about fighting the disorder and winning.  That gives an incorrect impression that you remain the same and the eating disorder leaves.  Solid recovery occurs when you no longer need your eating disorder to cope with the stresses and challenges in your life now or in the future.  * pix

The New York Times, in the April 25, 2011 issues, ran a pessimistic article that risks leaving readers with the idea that you cannot recover

 *pix credit

Reality of eating disorder in-patient treatment

A wonderful, honest, detailed and accurate description of what it's like to go through an eating disorder in-patient experience is a gift to anyone with an eating disorder.
 
Molly Freedenberg shared her eating disorder recovery viewpoint.Her post dispels myths and fantasies about early recovery. I'm especially glad that her vivid examples make clear that in-patient or residential treatment is the beginning, not the end of recovery work.

              Make the call to honor and save your life.

Will you keep waiting for tomorrow to begin your recovery? Tomorrow never comes.

Procrastination is a powerful part of living with an eating disorder. You postpone taking recovery action. When you put positive activities off you are saying that you'll create a new life for yourself in the future. You plan in your mind, as if you can have two lives, this one and the one you'll create when you finish procrastinating.