Overcoming Body Dissatisfaction

[Listen to an audio version of this blog HERE.]

Recovering from an eating disorder is a long, fraught, and imperfect journey. Sometimes, it can feel like taking two steps forward and one step back, or like standing still. I recently learned that eating disorders mirror substance abuse disorders, which helped me understand why the path to recovery continues to be bumpy at times. Eating disorders and substance abuse are similar in that individuals report an unrelenting and uncontrollable drive to pursue a maladaptive behavior (either consuming a drug or engaging in disordered eating.) People with both eating disorders and substance abuse issues will avoid social situations and use their behaviors to ease anxiety. The primary difference is that those abusing substances are looking for a short-term fix, while those engaged in eating disorders are also pursuing a long-term goal, (i.e. controlling their bodies).

But one particularly damning aspect of eating disorders is body dissatisfaction. I can’t go so far as to say that body dissatisfaction causes eating disorder or vice versa-that’s kind of a chicken-or-the-egg scenario. I do know that although I’ve stopped puking, using diet pills, heavily restricting, or constantly weighing myself, I still struggle with body dissatisfaction at times. Feeling unhappy in one’s body is at once the most normal and unhealthy thing in…