How Do I Tolerate How Terrible it is to Have an Eating Disorder?
Re-posted from the Cleveland Center for Eating Disorders (CCED) blog archives. CCED and The Emily Program partnered in 2014. Contributions by Sarah Emerman, Therapist at The Emily Program – Cleveland.
In our conversations about eating disorders, we sometimes forget to state the obvious, which is that it’s horrible to have an eating disorder. It is always horrible for the person that has it and the pain of the disorder often extends far past the individual to their family, friends, and community. Eating disorders affect everything about us. They affect the way we think, the way we feel, our self-image, our experience in our bodies, our minds, and who we are in the world.
They destroy our health, our hearts, our brains, and ultimately can take our lives. Eating disorders affect our relationships, school, work, and the ability to have the lives we want to have. They are illnesses in the truest sense of the word. They disable us and take our health and well-being. Part of the awfulness of having these disorders is that they are not well understood or appreciated for how terrible they are and the pain they cause. Layered into all of this is that the treatment for the disorder often causes more pain. Trying to refeed, stop behaviors, change self-image, and work on body image can take us to places that are both painful and frightening. Yet there is no other choice. So what do we do? We find strength from each other, find ways to feed ourselves and make our bodies healthy, and find a community that is healing. We need to believe in and seek out the evidence-based care that can help us and trustworthy providers, family, and friends who will be there with us. In Marsha Linehan’s writings, she talks about the pain of living in hell and how the only way out of hell is to get on our hands and knees and crawl through the fire until we reach the sunshine. So we acknowledge the pain and acknowledge how awful these disorders can be, but also know that if we keep moving forward we can find the light that will give us our lives back and let us escape the disorder.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mark Warren, MD
Dr. Mark Warren (he/him) is the Chief Medical Officer of Accanto Health, the parent company of The Emily Program and Gather Behavioral Health. His primary focus enhancing patient safety and providing comprehensive treatment that addresses both the physical and psychological aspects of eating disorders. Working alongside our executive team and our medical staff, Dr. Warren is dedicated to helping all of our patients embark on a path toward a meaningful and joyful life.
Dr. Warren is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Fellow of the Academy of Eating Disorders, where he co-founded the special interest group (SIG) for Professionals and Recovery and the SIG for Males and Eating Disorders. He is a two-time recipient of the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and a winner of the Woodruff Award. He has published and spoken extensively on males and eating disorders, professionals and recovery, and DBT and FBT in the treatment of eating disorders.
Dr. Warren is a founding member and former co-chair of the Academy of Eating Disorders Medical Care Standards Committee and serves on the FEAST Medical Advisory Board and The Visiting Committee of the Case Western Francis Payne Bolton School of Nursing.
Having personally experienced an eating disorder as a young man, Mark feels privileged to be working in the field of eating disorders for over two decades.