Therapy in ED Recovery

In recent years, therapy has become less taboo; more and more people are open about their experience with going to therapy and the media has started to display this mental help option positively. People go to therapy for a number of reasons, whether that is anxiety, depression, PTSD, post-partum, and in this case, an eating disorder. When starting recovery, therapy will most likely be a recommendation. Hearing this can raise a plethora of emotions. Many in recovery have a history of therapy, many don’t. Many believe this option will help them, many do not. This is what you need to know about starting therapy, specifcally when starting recovery. This is specific to my personal experience, so take everything I write with a grain of salt. 

How personal do I have to get?

Every therapist is going to tackle things a bit differently, but most have a very similar goal. Therapists that are specialized in Eating Disorders want to help you figure out who you are. This can be diving into your childhood or personal experiences that may have contributed to the formation of your eating disorder. With my therapist, I was able to figure out that my mothers bad self-image and self-talk about her own body when I was a child made me incredibly conscious and insecure about my own. I also realized that being bullied in middle school made me want to look a certain way in order to be treated better. I also developed earlier than most, having boobs before all of my friends and such. I didn’t feel like I fit in physically, and this grew as I got older. I wasn’t able to point these experiences out as being related to the formation of my eating disorder at first, but my therapist helped me immensely. 

And so with this, it is important to be a bit vulnerable. Many of you may ask why pointing out these past experiences is so important. Obviously you can’t go back to the past and change your point of view; there is no changing what already happened. But, understanding your past will help you navigate the future. By understanding what has triggered you in the past, you will understand how to grapple similar scenarios in the future without letting them tear you down. Understanding what fed into the formation of your eating disorder may also make you feel more confident in yourself. This helped me understand that there wasn’t something “wrong” with me, rather something wrong with the world around me. 

Do I have the opportunity to talk about anything else during sessions?

Confining therapy sessions to just one struggle can kind of feel trapping in a sense. As humans, we typically are not dealing with one problem at a time; struggles overlap. Recovery sessions will start off with mostly talk about your eating disorder, but as you start having more and more sessions, your therapist will learn more about who you are. These therapists are not licensed in just eating disorders; they are trained to be your therapist. I started struggling with self-harm as well as household problems and my therapist helped me through all of it. Remember, your eating disorder does not define you. You are more than your eating disorder, and therefore may need help in other areas of your life as well. 

Is therapy actually helpful for recovery?

This really depends on the person! Again, most specialists recommend therapy and I agree that it is a perfect first step. I do believe that recovery therapy not only helps you figure out who you are but helps you figure out how to live your day to day life in recovery. I, surprisingly enough, am not a huge fan of therapy personally. I am incredibly independent and do a good job at figuring things out myself. So, I only did recovery therapy for maybe 6 months or so. But, I believe that everyone going through recovery should give it a shot. Even though I didn’t enjoy it much, I learned so much more about myself and my disorder. You may want to continue for years, but you may quit pretty soon like me. Everyone is different. 

There are so many different aspects of therapy during ED recovery and so many other questions you can ask. My #1 piece of advice though, is to give it a shot. You deserve to be heard. You deserve to know yourself.