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Who Am I Without Anorexia? Finding Purpose, Meaning, and Your True Self in Recovery – Part 10
The Importance of Structure in Eating Disorder Recovery
One of the moments I love most about helping people with eating disorders are those moments when they feel connected when their haze does lift, when they get reinforced for doing things that feel good in life, when they begin living a life that they feel proud of and want to share. It is so wonderful to see them excited to live and be alive and to take care of themselves.
Sure, that eating disorder voice may still be lingering in the background, but when they have transitioned, there is a process where the eating disorder self quiets down while the true self becomes louder.
With this, there comes a point where the eating disorder self and the true self are at odds and go back-and-forth. However, eventually, the true self gets a bit louder, and we start seeing it more and more often.
I don’t know that I have ever experienced something as rewarding as getting to witness these moments. It is incredible to witness when an individual is able to push past that point and be in their true self more frequently.
Part of achieving this is having structure in eating disorder recovery, a structured daily routine, which is all about taking care of yourself, being connected, and living a life that feels good. This can take away a lot of distress.
When people come into treatment, often, there is a lot of internal chaos. As such, we want to make sure we set up a lot of external structure to relieve the distress of this chaos.
An example of this is that, often, when beginning treatment, the bathroom is locked. Some facilities use this as an intervention. Individuals feel so inconvenienced and embarrassed to have to ask for someone to come unlock the bathroom for them.
However, often, when they take the step, and we help them make that decision in order to maintain their safety, their anxiety and distress markedly decrease because now any option regarding their disorder and the bathroom is just off the table.
That’s what committing to a daily routine can do. When you have a commitment to a daily routine, it can decrease stress a great deal.
Going back to the locked bathroom, my goal for anyone with that intervention would be, eventually, that they wouldn’t need the bathroom locked, and they could learn to use their voice to ask someone to either be with you or stay out the bathroom as you keep the door cracked.
This changes it from being an externalized structure controlling the person to their desire to change coming from within. They will, hopefully, begin to keep themselves accountable and ask others to help them do so.
This shift is the idea of being able to live in that state where you are a renewed person, engaged with the world and able to attend to what is going on within you in response to what is going on outside of you.
This does not always mean acting on what is happening outside of you but recognizing that it is happening and making your own decision. This helps to cultivate the true self as well as helping to recognize the false self.
As I spoke of earlier, this is when the eating disorder voice gets lower and no longer dictates or drives behaviors. It is being able to recognize when the “eating disorder self” pops up and acknowledging that but then moving forward with your routine.
In reference to the daily routine, mindful exercising is absolutely something that can help individuals, but for anyone struggling to overcome an eating disorder, it is important to exercise extreme caution when integrating exercise into your daily routine.
First and foremost, it is essential to make sure that an individual struggling with an eating disorder is medically cleared by a physician and monitored by a dietitian when engaging in this.
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART XI…
Please See
Who Am I Without Anorexia? Finding Purpose, Meaning, and Your True Self in Recovery – Part 1
Who Am I Without Anorexia? Finding Purpose, Meaning, and Your True Self in Recovery – Part 2
Who Am I Without Anorexia? Finding Purpose, Meaning, and Your True Self in Recovery – Part 3
Who Am I Without Anorexia? Finding Purpose, Meaning, and Your True Self in Recovery – Part 4
Who Am I Without Anorexia? Finding Purpose, Meaning, and Your True Self in Recovery – Part 5
Who Am I Without Anorexia? Finding Purpose, Meaning, and Your True Self in Recovery – Part 6
Who Am I Without Anorexia? Finding Purpose, Meaning, and Your True Self in Recovery – Part 7
Who Am I Without Anorexia? Finding Purpose, Meaning, and Your True Self in Recovery – Part 8
Who Am I Without Anorexia? Finding Purpose, Meaning, and Your True Self in Recovery – Part 9
Source:
Virtual Presentation by Nicole Karst in the May 17, 2018, Eating Disorder Hope Online Conference II: Anorexia Hope & Healing in 2018.
Please view the press release Here.
Author: Nicole Karst, MA LVN
– Lead Therapist at Rebecca’s House Eating Disorder Treatment Programs
Nicole Karst has 17 years of combined experience in the health and mental health fields. After completing her service in the military as a Fleet Marine Force Corpsman, she started a career in nursing. It was through her nursing experience that she began working with those diagnosed with eating disorders, substance use disorders, psychotic disorders, and mood disorders. This experience inspired Nicole to return to school, and she is graduating this spring with a doctoral degree in Clinical Forensic Psychology.
Nicole’s experience includes individual and group therapy, psychodiagnostic assessments, mindfulness meditation, and medical assessing/monitoring of complications related to eating disorders. She joined the leadership team at Rebecca’s House Eating Disorder Treatment Program from Casa Palmera.
Nicole combines a psychodynamic case conceptualization with cognitive behavioral interventions, guided imagery, logotherapy and somatic awareness in her treatment approach. She works with those she serves to cultivate their ability to eat intuitively, exercise mindfully, engage life with purpose and meaning, and discover who they are in the absence of maladaptive behavior.
About the Transcript Editor: Margot Rittenhouse is a therapist who is passionate about providing mental health support to all in need and has worked with clients with substance abuse issues, eating disorders, domestic violence victims, and offenders, and severely mentally ill youth.
As a freelance writer for Eating Disorder and Addiction Hope and a mentor with MentorConnect, Margot is a passionate eating disorder advocate, committed to de-stigmatizing these illnesses while showing support for those struggling through mentoring, writing, and volunteering. Margot has a Master’s of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Johns Hopkins University.
The opinions and views of our guest contributors are shared to provide a broad perspective of eating disorders. These are not necessarily the views of Eating Disorder Hope, but an effort to offer a discussion of various issues by different concerned individuals.
We at Eating Disorder Hope understand that eating disorders result from a combination of environmental and genetic factors. If you or a loved one are suffering from an eating disorder, please know that there is hope for you, and seek immediate professional help.
Published on July 30, 2018.
Reviewed & Approved on July 30, 2018, by Jacquelyn Ekern MS, LPC
Published on EatingDisorderHope.com
