Eating disorders are widely recognised as complex, mental health conditions which have a severe impact upon the sufferer's mental, physical, psychological health and well-being. There are so many different treatments currently available and often with similar outcomes in terms of progress towards health and well-being. This article aims to explore issues surrounding recovery; key areas to be examined are listed below.
- What is recovery?
- Cognitive & emotional factors in anorexia recovery
- Physical & social factors in anorexia recovery
- Behavioural change in anorexia recovery
What is Anorexia Recovery?
Recovery is quite simply a process and can mean very different things to sufferers, health professionals and carers. As recovery involves progress or change in a variety of different aspects of the patient's life it cannot be easily judged or defined. For example, it is clearly not helpful to view recovery as being solely about reaching and maintaining a healthy BMI as this doesn't take into account the importance of psychological and social factors in being able to lead a healthy, productive life. Kinoy (2001) highlights four necessary factors essential to the process including the following: acceptance (that one has an illness and requires support to get better), a real desire to get better, inner strength and hope.
In terms of the CBT model, five specific groups of factors which may indicate recovery will now be explored.
Cognitive and Emotional Factors in Eating Disorder Recovery
Cognitive factors seen in eating disorders tend to be associated with over-evaluations of one's shape, eating and weight. In recovery, the aim is for the patient to judge themselves not solely on weight, no longer strongly desire weight loss, have a distorted body image or extreme fear of being fat. While emotional factors which indicate recovery may include the following: the ability to identify and manage or tolerate difficult emotions without suppressing them, a stable mood and not using destructive coping mechanisms such as compulsive exercise or self harm to deal with feelings.
Physical and Social Factors in Anorexia Recovery
Physical factors that may indicate recovery include:maintenance of a stable, healthy weight (such as around BMI 20), return of regular menstrual periods, less symptoms associated with having low body weight such as ability to concentrate, think more clearly, healthier nails/skin/hair as well as less anxiety and depression. Eating disorders severely restrict socialising and can lead to severe isolation. Therefore a return to seeing friends regularly, going out to social events and development/restoration of activities and enjoying being with others again.
Behavioural Change in Anorexia Sufferers
The final key factor is that of behaviour and changes associated with healthy recovery may include the following: termination of destructive behaviours such as purging, laxative abuse, diet pills, diuretics and compulsive exercise. Further indications of recovery revolve around eating patterns such as eating amounts from every different food group, regular meals/snacks and not being overly rigid or obsessive about issues such as the manner in which an item is prepared or served.
Sources:
Kinoy, B. (2001) Eating Disorders: New Directions in Treatment and Recovery Columbia University Press
Wallet et al. (2007) CBT for Eating disorders Cambridge University Press
Kate Le Page - Kate Henning-Le Page writes about eating disorders, body image and recovery issues. She specializes in anorexia recovery.
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