Disordered eating can be an expression of an internal conflict about needs. We all have basic human needs for love, attention, comfort, and so forth. If those needs are not met, or not consistently met, people can feel humiliated about having needs. That’s when “needs” are seen as “neediness” and experienced as something negative, to be avoided.
People struggling
with anorexia resolve this conflict by restricting food, and often
relationships. The unconscious thought
is: “I don’t need anything, not food and
not friends.”
People dealing with
binge eating resolve this conflict by attaching all their needs to food. They unconsciously believe: “People can’t be trusted to meet my needs
consistently so I will have a relationship with food, which is always
available, always consistent and fills up my internal emptiness.”
Those struggling
with bulimia combine the two strategies by expressing their needs by binging,
and then purging their perceived neediness.
Their unconscious thought: “I
need so much, so I will binge. But I
hate that I have needs, so I will purge!”
What do you need more
of in your life?
In what areas of your
life do you feel deprived?
What’s it like to
think about your own needs and wants?
When you can identify, work through and meet your underlying needs, you won't need disordered eating to express those needs and wants, or to distract from them.
When you can identify, work through and meet your underlying needs, you won't need disordered eating to express those needs and wants, or to distract from them.
1 comment:
Can you please go teach this to some people in the Midwest?
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