In many past posts, I have written about important elements to successful eating disorder recovery including food logs for accountability, regular contact with a provider to consistently counteract eating disorder thoughts and a meaningful connection with a therapist.
These parts of recovery remain essential but also are not a bellwether of success or failure in treatment. They are essential for most treatment but not enough to get well.
Just as central to the process of tackling an eating disorder is the individual and personal component of treatment. After the initial, universal steps of recovery such as stabilizing eating, any road to get well is a very individual experience.
As comforting as it might be, clear and consistent steps that guarantee recovery don’t exist. Each person needs to use the support they have and the structure they learn to figure out how to get well.
Since an eating disorder becomes the foundation of one’s identity, the process of extricating oneself from an eating disorder must allow for the exploration of who each person is.
And the individual herself can begin to learn their likes and dislikes, their internal emotional world and their desires in the process of getting well.
No treatment guidelines or overall recovery plan will dictate how getting well looks for each person. Recovery uncovers who each person truly is, and treatment needs to leave room and freedom to explore, not create a false path to become the person a provider might mold or create.
Therapy which leads to a successful recovery is open ended, creative, free but often frustrating. The therapist must allow for fits and starts, confusion and missteps, anger and connection. What remains constant is acceptance, understanding and freedom without judgment.
Creating space to grow and learn works best in that environment and leaves little room for an eating disorder tho thrive.
No comments:
Post a Comment