Comments on: What do you mean you can’t see the clothes?

By: BL

BL — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:40:15 +0000

I have definitely been in the situation where a therapist wants to talk about my past, and all I can think about is “my life is SO different then when my ED started, why should we talk about the past?” Recently, I had to complete a timeline of my eating disorder for my therapist, and it was definitely helpful, and in a way I did feel a new sense of self-enlightenment after completing it and looking at the trends. But, that didn’t make it any easier to go home and eat my next meal.

I always thought (and hoped) that I would magically be ED free once I did enough self-reflection and figured out the function of the eating disorder and stuff. But it isn’t that easy – therapy isn’t some silver bullet that magically translates into recovery. I definitely think therapy is helpful, but it isn’t just about going in and talking – it is about a lot of hard work on the outside.

By: Twitted by gwalter

Twitted by gwalter — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:21:01 +0000

[...] This post was Twitted by gwalter [...]

By: Autumn

Autumn — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 22:47:56 +0000

I’m a big fan of therapy and think everyone could benefit from it. That said, I think it’s rare that talk therapy alone is going to have the desired effect, largely because of exactly what you’re saying here.

I think that with eating disorders it’s particularly difficult to get benefits through talk therapy alone, because chances are you’re also suffering from poor nutrition. I’m in treatment now and am seeing how the multipronged approach is absolutely what I need–talk therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy. (I’m not on medication but see how it has helped other patients, so that’s another possible prong.) But NONE of this would be helpful if it weren’t for the fact that I’m now, for the first time ever, receiving proper nutrition. When I was in therapy years ago, it wasn’t specifically for my eating disorder, but I now see that even if I had been more open about my ED it wouldn’t have helped that much, simply because I was constantly exhausted and foggy-minded because of my ED.

By: Emily

Emily — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:25:42 +0000

I’m right there with you on wondering how much utility dredging up the past really has on the here and now. I guess it can be useful for understanding some of the origins of behavior and thinking, but it doesn’t seem to give me much insight into what I can do now.

Its a conundrum I guess. I do love your response to,” how do you know you’re done with treatment?” Very appropriate