The Thin Line:

The Debate of "Recovery" vs. "Recovered"

(from eating disorders)

Working in the field of the psychology of eating disorders and having suffered for seven years myself, I have come across the debate as to whether or not one can fully recover from disordered eating several times. In reading about eating disorders, you may often come across people using the phrase "Éin recoveryÉ" which implies an active working recovery program (for example, the 12 Steps use this terminology). You may also read about people who have "Érecovered fromÉ" which implies that their battle and work is now over.

In my experience, usually both people are in the same stage; that is, they are eating "normally" and are no longer obsessing over their food and weight. They daily life which was once consumed by thoughts of disordered eating, is now consumed by other things (ideally, healthy things). They no longer meet the "criteria" of a diagnosable eating disorder. Both are in a good place!

However, there may be some differencesÉ a person who calls themselves "Éin recoveryÉ" may consider themselves in process (that is, still working in therapy or attending groups, or simply watching out for triggers). Since I believe life itself is a process, I use the more active sounding term "Éin recoveryÉ" this also helps me remember that I am susceptible to falling back into the clutches of an eating disorder and should be consciously taking good care of myself (physically, emotionally and spiritually).

A person who uses the phrase "Érecovered fromÉ" may still work in therapy (though no longer working on eating disorder behaviors). However, their mentality is: having completely closed the chapter on disordered eating and having returned to "normal" eating habits that they perhaps possessed originally (before ever having an eating disorder), they are "cured" of their illness.

I am taking the time to write about this because the idea of a "cure" for anorexia, bulimia and compulsive eating is a great one, but as far as I know and have seen, there is no exact reliable cure at this time. The makers of Prozac would like you to believe they can cure bulimia. And many treatment centers want to offer you a cure if you come to stay in their clinic. I absolutely do believe recovery is possible, but I don't believe there is a sure-thing cure (at this time).

What I have seen resembles stages of recovery. For example, when one first starts to make efforts to stop eating disorder behaviors, I believe that is a "first stage" of recovery. Recovery being the attempt to recover some sense of health (physically, emotionally and spiritually). If the person continue to change their behaviors to healthier ones and begins to pull out of the darkness that an eating disorder envelops its' victims in, then the person has moved into another "stage" of recovery. Perhaps you can use the metaphor of a staircase, with each step there is more recovery gainedÉ

When I first began recovery I followed an eating plan given to me by a nutrition therapist (who specialized in eating disorders). Following an eating plan is usually not considered completely "normal" for an average person, yet for me, it was absolutely a huge step in the right direction! This "stage" of recovery lasted a long time (one year) and I grew in many ways and slowly but steadily eliminated my many eating disorder behaviors (from actual eating rituals to thinking of the world in black-and-white, all-or-nothing terms and many more bad habits). I believe that during that one year I was in the "beginning stages" of recovery.

Once off the meal plan, and able to freely choose my daily food intake (like "normal" people do), I moved into a new stage of recoveryÉ I see this as a process. I have now several years of recovery under my belt. Am I cured??!?

I still have bad body image days, but I no longer act on them (meaning I don't starve myself or take laxatives). I would not meet the criteria for an eating disorder (in the psychiatric manual, otherwise known as the D.S.M.). I eat and choose my own foods daily. I don't obsess about what calories or fat grams are in the foods I eat (thank god- I used to- and oh! What a trap that was, I could never enjoy anything with that calculator voice going off in my head!). I don't obsess about my weight (that doesn't mean that I don't ever think about it, I just don't obsess over it). Having not practiced my eating disorder for a long time, I consider myself to be in recovery, but I am fully aware that the eating disorder could "come back" and so I am careful with my self, gentle with my self, and patient with my self.

Perhaps the term "Érecovered fromÉ" should be reserved for people who have more years of recovery than of eating disorder behavior. In other words, once I reach seven consecutive years of recovery (since I had my eating disorder for seven years), then I may consider changing the phrasing of "Éin recoveryÉ" to "Érecovered fromÉ" when I speak about my eating disordered past. No matter what, I should always be aware that an eating disorder could creep back into my life, and thus, I should always take extra special care of myself in reference to issues of food and weight. But I should also give myself credit for the recovery work I have done and the progress I have made!

What I think is most important is that there is hope and that there is another way to live besides eating disordered. My therapist friends who call themselves "recovered" do so in an effort to offer hope to those still suffering. My therapist friends who call themselves "in recovery" do so in attempt to acknowledge the on-going process of working on oneself. Both have their hearts in the right place. Both have found a way to lift themselves out of the thick mud of disordered eating and are living differently then when they were struggling.

Both have been tangled in the web of an eating disorder and have come to recognize their role in the weaving of that web and have found ways to improve their lives and their health (physically, emotionally, and spiritually). This means there is hope and that is as good a cure as any.

Brightest Blessings in Brigid, Lisa

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But really anyone can find anything disturbing.

Trinity Copyright 2003 - this website is a creation of Lisa Arndt, M.A.