Quarantine and Eating Disorders, Part II

Although some people have been able to use this period as a time to take steps forward in recovery, others have struggled more with their eating disorder.

The constant stress and pressure of the pandemic have affected everyone, no matter their psychological state before. The barrage of news, the pause on life and the lack of contact have affected daily life for everyone. As this period has extended for weeks and weeks, it has taken its toll.

By and large, people have relied on tried and true coping mechanisms to manage the stress. For people with eating disorders, that has often meant a gradual escalation of symptoms.

Even if the intention is to maintain any gains or to stop the creep of worsening behaviors, many have found the eating disorder has started to infiltrate the extra time in their lives whether it means more food behaviors, worsening thoughts or increased exercise. We are all relying on what helps most during times of stress, and that is the same for people with eating disorders.

Few people have stayed in place with respect to their eating disorder. Most have either moved forward either seeing this time is a pseudo-program, as explained in the last post, or else drifted into worsening symptoms to cope with the stress.

The people who have seen this as a type of treatment entered the quarantine already primed to focus on recovery. That means having either just left a treatment program or just resolved to try to get well.

Those who are seeing an escalation of symptoms tend to have already been in a steady place with their eating disorder or struggling to find ways to get better.

Eating disorders always seem to be changing. Either the situation is improving or worsening most of the time. This pandemic appears to have escalated the pace of change for many people with eating disorders.

However, for those who want help, the support is available and just as effective remotely as in person. This is not a time to despair or wait. It’s as good a time as any to try to move forward with recovery.

The Daily Calm of the Lockdown in Recovery

Adjusting to the pandemic lockdown has been difficult for most everyone. For me, one causality was this blog. With over a month to understand how the coronavirus has affected people with eating disorders, I have had many thoughts I will share over the new few posts.

First, people have a wide range of reactions to the overall situation in the world, our country and our individual communities. There is no right or wrong way to manage the lockdown. This truth applies to people in recovery as well.

The increased stress of dealing with life on pause and the fear of a serious and contagious disease has led many people to rely on old coping mechanisms. For many this has meant leaning on eating disorders thoughts more.

However, the lack of overall stimuli from the world also gave an opportunity for most people in recovery to reflect on the worsening thoughts before acting on them. Interestingly, although these thoughts often worsen, behaviors don’t necessarily follow.

Daily routines are slower and quieter for most of us since our main objective is to be home and safe. So even when thoughts increase, there is ample time and space to try to separate from the eating disorder thoughts and use skills to avoid behaviors.

Accordingly, most people in recovery have not relapsed. Most people attempting to take new steps in recovery have found a way to try to move forward now. And most people have the energy to complete food journals, do the necessary work between appts and engage fully in sessions.

More than one person has likened the time at home to a more loosely organized residential treatment program. Everyone is home and cannot go anywhere, and the food is always there and available with few built in excuses to avoid it. However, the biggest difference is that everyone is making their own food decisions. Nothing is imposed by a treatment program so any progress is based on one’s own desire to get better.

So for many this lockdown has become an opportunity to further recover, something I never would have imagine a month ago.I’ll dive in with more details in the next post.