Your identity shapes who you become. Research shows that people who are successful in giving up smoking tend to identify as a non-smoker, whereas if you identify as a smoker, even when you’re not smoking you are more likely to relapse. It is not uncommon that your identity is strongly linked with your eating disorder.
This is particularly understandable if you were diagnosed at a young age or were engaged with professional services, when young and impressionable. You may have been given a diagnostic label as a young teen. And the eating disorder may feel like a part of you. It has been around for so long. It feels safe, known and predictable. You may not like it, but you don’t know who you are without it. You may be into fitness and be labelled as ‘the healthy one’.
You may be identified in your friend group as ‘the skinny one’. You may have been praised continuously for your body shape, even though you’ve been internally struggling. You may derive a great deal of comfort and safety, from your identity being interwoven with your eating disorder. You may not know who you are without it.
If you relate to this, offer yourself deep kindness and compassion. The eating disorder has likely been a saviour through difficult times, even if holding you back now. But when your identity becomes unhealthily dependent on your eating disorder diagnosis, this can keep you stuck. It can drive you to unwittingly repeat and perpetuate the destructive cycles, which feel so familiar. There is little headspace for hobbies or friendship or pleasure (apart from food). The real-world blurs into the background and the eating disorder infiltrates into every aspect of life, dominating and filling every life crevice.
So how can you begin to rebuild a new identity and let go of the eating disorder?
This episode explores this.
Time slots:
9:55 1. Be inspired.
10:28 Early life.
11:13 Dream big.
I hope that you find it helpful.
🌐 If you're looking for more support in your recovery journey, you can explore my work here: https://www.theeatingdisordertherapist.co.uk/
💬 Have you used psychological formulation? What do you think about it as a tool?
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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