What People in Eating Disorder Recovery Value Most

Compassion and kindness need to be present in eating disorder treatment. Increased awareness and knowledge about eating disorders have helped lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment but haven’t helped family, friends and sometimes even clinicians remember that eating disorders are psychological illnesses, not merely a measure of willpower.

Many people expect that once someone is getting experienced help for their eating disorder that improvement and recovery aren’t far away. It’s hard to recognize that being in treatment is only a first step.

For so many medical conditions, treatment leads to improved health and the resumption of normal life. Eating disorder treatment instead results in a long process of recovery and many profound changes not just in how one eats but also to the core being of that person.

Since eating disorders become a focal point for one’s identity, getting better also means unwinding what feels like an inextricable sense of oneself and creating a new identity. That change takes time and enormous effort. Recovery is not a matter of days or weeks but instead months or years.

True support for someone in recovery needs to be grounded in patience, kindness and compassion.

Patience allows the person to believe getting better isn’t a race against time or a constant feeling of failure. Instead, recovery is a journey of self-discovery and self-care that leads to a new and improved way to live.

Kindness will give the person in recovery a new way to consider treating themselves. Instead of the harsh, critical thoughts of the eating disorder which always reinforce the feeling of not being good enough, kindness can introduce the concept of caring for oneself emotionally in addition to physically.

Compassion reminds everyone that an eating disorder is an illness that happened to someone and was not a choice. Recovery from an illness deserves compassion for the pain and suffering caused by the illness and love and support for the patience needed to find health and internal peace.

Frustration, disappointment and struggle are always going to be a part of recovery. For the people truly providing support for someone working hard to get well, patience, kindness and compassion will serve as cornerstones to a path to a new life.