Reckoning with the Idea of “Full Recovery”

There are forces in the eating disorder treatment world promising the idea of “full recovery.” According to the original definition, this term meant getting well and living your life not dominated by the eating disorder. In recent years the term has morphed into an idealized state of life completely free of the eating disorder with everything one could ever want.

Clearly, this concept is a fantasy.

The altered definition of full recovery stemmed from two sources. First, the proliferation of treatment programs staffed by young, inexperienced clinicians promised the unattainable to many people early in treatment as a means to lure them to follow the treatment plan. Second, social media latched into the idea of full recovery as an easy hook for views but not a realistic idea in treatment.

The fundamental purpose of this term is well meaning and intended to give hope and motivation to someone in the weeds of recovery. Even if misguided, “full recovery” helps people struggling in the daily grind of a path to getting well continue to see the purpose and meaning in this process.

Ultimately, anyone familiar with recovery from an eating disorder knows there is a period when the person is in consistent emotional pain as they try to get through the chore of eating each day and facing difficult emotional hurdles. The urge in this time to return to the eating disorder is strong. Continuing recovery at that stage is a leap of faith. One needs to believe there is a different life ahead when the struggle won’t be so great and the growth of new directions in life will begin.

That’s exactly what will happen in recovery. However, the other side is still part of the human condition not utopia. Life can bring amazement and wonder, joy and connection but also hardship and pain, failure and sadness.

Recovery gives someone the chance to live a full life not dominated by the eating disorder. Recovery won’t insulate a person from the vagaries of being human.

“Full recovery” in its current definition may only be an idealized notion—a hope really—for whatever we all wish life might be like. But the term does remind anyone working hard to get well that things can get better and that life not consumed by the eating disorder offers hope for a depth and meaning hard to find in throes of this illness.