Myths About Eating Disorder Treatment Debunked
The little ED voice in your head has become too much.
You are exhausted from having it tell you to binge, purge or restrict to fit in.
Ever feel like the thoughts about your body and what it should look like is all-consuming?
Maybe you want to finally be happy with yourself and let go of the shame, guilt, and hatred you have for body but are afraid of what recovery could look like.
You want to change but the ED voice inside makes you feel anxious about potential recovery. Maybe your ED brain convinces you that:
You will become fat.
You don’t have the right to recover.
You’re eating disorder isn’t that bad.
You’ll just be put on another diet.
Therapy won’t help, you’ll forever be the same.
It is understandable that the ED voice is talking back to you! It’s annoyed that you want to change. Which is why I am here to provide some insight and debunk myths that your ED voice may be telling you about eating disorder therapy.
Will it make me fat? The short answer is no, we aren’t! We are not here to make you fat, contrary to popular belief. Eating disorder recovery is about being intuitive and feeling connected to your body; it's not about gaining weight or making you fat. Eating disorder therapy is a space for you to break free from the obsession with food and your body, to learn to adopt a curious, compassionate lens when it comes to your body and to find peace around food! Our goal as therapists, is for you to eat when you are hungry, to eat enough food, that you enjoy, to SATISFY you and to stop eating when you are SATISFIED. And when you begin to put intuitive eating into practice, your body will follow suit. If you are not restricting all day, every day and then binging and purging your food, your body will do what it was born to do naturally—it will process the food and give you energy to be more in the present moment.
Is it normal to be scared? Of course, it is! It is so normal to be scared and completely understandable! Parts of you want help and other parts are afraid to take the plunge for MANY reasons (including the fear of getting fat or that you’ll be put on a diet). There are other reasons you’re probably scared—you know there’s a bunch of things in your past, or perhaps your family, that may have contributed to your anorexia, but you don’t want to blame them. You know you’ve got some difficult memories stored away, but that’s just the point—they’re stored neatly away and the thought of walking into a counseling office and TALKING about them seems like the worst idea ever! Also, the commitment to plunging into eating disorder therapy is daunting. It is the fear of the unknown and trust me, this is all completely valid and normal to experience.
Will I be put on a diet? Nope, not when working with this type of eating disorder recovery therapist, anyway! Of course, there are clinicians that believe the way to heal an eating disorder is through rigid meal plans and restriction of certain food groups. And perhaps this works for some people, but don’t you want freedom? REAL freedom? You CAN find freedom without restricting yourself or forcing yourself to follow a diet. Our eating disorder therapist meet you where you are at in your recovery journey. So, if you are not ready to eat 3 meals a day, that is okay. It is our job to help you mediate your anxiety around food; not to overwhelm you. We work to make you feel as comfortable and build confidence surrounding yourself, food and your body. We may encourage you work with a nutritionist who specializes in eating disorders. Rather than counting calories or measuring amounts of foods, our nutritionist works with you to provide education about food, ways to promote healthy behaviors without restricting, to help you get away from the diet mentality and celebrate your body! The goal is to help you find freedom to enjoy meals with friends and family—to put food in its place in your life instead of allowing it to dominate and terrorize you. So, no dieting is not part of eating disorder recovery.
If I go to therapy, will I spend all my time digging up the past and talking about my mother? History and your past is just one important component of what makes you—YOU. It is important to spend some time exploring things that happened in the past, but only if it is helpful for the present – or if you want to explore or use EMDR to process an upsetting memory, then, of course we go there! But this is not the focus. As therapists our job is to help you identify YOUR GOALS and we are simply the guide that helps you reach them.
I hope this helps debunk some of the myths about eating disorder therapy and will help you in your search for the right eating disorder therapist, as I know it can be a very overwhelming time when you are thinking about the idea of starting therapy. There is a lot of anxiety about plunging into eating disorder treatment and while that anxiety is 100% valid, don’t let is stop you from getting the help you deserve.
