Recently, my friend and I were discussing the pros/cons of her stepping up the level of care in her treatment. Interestingly, “eating in program” was on both the pro and con list. She thinks it’s easier to eat while in program (as opposed to on your own), but that some of the food sucks and you have to eat things you don’t like (or are not comfortable with).
I can definitely relate to this. When you first start a higher level of care (like IOP, PHP, IP – anything involving a …

Everyone has heard the phrase about things having to get worse before getting better. However, it doesn’t say MAKE things worse so that they can get better. It doesn’t exactly work like that. I see a couple of different situations where people “try to get out of the eating disorder by going [further] into their eating disorder”:

The emperor allows himself to be duped because of his own self-delusions. Therapy, she says, deceived her into thinking she was in more in control of what was happening to her than she was and that “through reason, determination and an outlay of cash” she would be able to overcome a lifelong depression.”

I’ve been in all different levels of treatment with numerous professionals and various treatment centers, and overall I’d have to say that both group and individual therapy are important (and beneficial) in recovery.  With group, there are several people who you can bounce ideas off of, get advice from, relate to, and rely on for support.  I feel like most of the real therapy work happens in individual, though, where you can focus on your specific issues, goals, etc.  I really do think it helps to have both individual and …

While I do have several new posts on the way, I want to highlight a couple of older Grey Thinking posts (some are several years old!  I bet you were not reading GT two years ago) that talk specifically about treatment, your attitude toward treatment, recovery expectations, etc.  While there are a couple of people that I have in mind when it comes to the subject of these posts, I think that everyone can use the refresher.
You as your own case manager
Originally Posted: 01/01/2009
I wish that all these …

“I’m not deflecting because I’m avoiding something deep. I’m deflecting because I’m avoiding something shallow.” – House, MD
One of my biggest treatment pet peeves is when professionals ask non-deep “deep” questions. For example:

What does it mean to feel?
How did it feel to be in that space?
How does it feel to be in this space now?
What does it mean for you to not be in that space anymore?
How do you experience that process?
What would it mean for there to be grey in your world?
How does it feel to have …

Last night I watched all of the “In Treatment” Sophie episodes.  I am just engrossed in this show.  I feel so connected to the patients and to Paul.  I think that they discuss such intimate details that I feel like I am part of some deep relationship.  I can relate to a lot of what the patients say, so Paul’s responses are meaningful to me.  It’s also funny that I don’t feel comfortable ending therapy at the end of each season.  In episode nine of Sophie I was thinking, “No!  …

Everyone should go and read the discussion about this post — so many interesting things have been said from people with very different beliefs about the cause and treatment of eating disorders.  One question stood out to me, though:
Who would you go to if your child was ill?
I’m going to change the question a little bit:  What would you do if your child were ill?
I’ve thought about this a lot since “discovering” the Maudsley Method (I had never heard of it until a couple of years ago).  Maudsley contradicts many …

I am not  an auditory learner.  At all.  I’m definitely a visual learner — in college I took copious notes, but didn’t really grasp the class material until later going over and reading those notes.  There’s just something about reading/writing that I need to get it.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t serve me too well in therapy.  I can have a great session and later that night not even remember half of what we talked about.  And on the same level, when I’m in session I don’t remember half of what I planned …

There have been many blog posts written on facebook and pro-anorexia, however, lately I’ve been thinking a lot about facebook and recovery in general.
Facebook is really unique in that EVERYONE (okay, almost everyone) is on it.  If you’re an eating disorder patient, this means your professionals, the other girls/guys you’re in treatment with, past patients, your school / work friends who may not know about your eating disorder, your family members, etc.  In what other realm do all of these people connect?
For most people, “Facebook stalking” means checking out what …