Mindsets and Eating Disorders

Heya Frens!!!

I wanted to share some info about mindsets and eating disorder recovery because it's something that is helping me alot. Maybe it might be relatable to other people on here too. These are some things I'm currently working on in my personal therapy <3

What is a Mindset?

Mindset influences the way you look at things. A mindset is developed over a long period of time over your life because the things you experienced have a big effect on how you see things. A good analogy for mindset is like wearing spectacles or eye glasses. Like when I put on my sunglasses everything looks darker because they are filtering out the light. That doesn't mean everything around me changed color because when I take off the glasses everything is the same way it was before. The only thing that changed was my perspective. Mindset shapes your worldview and can affect the choices you make (good ones and bad ones) or even the behaviors you do everyday.

Eating Disorder Mindset

My eating issues took a long time to develop. Things I experienced shaped the way I have a relationship with eating, with food, with other people, and with myself. This mindset is made up of alot of complicated parts and pieces. It has my disordered rules and rituals, negative thoughts, and unhealthy coping behaviors. I don't always have this disordered mindset but it can be triggered. Sometimes it can be hard to stop because it is something I used to cope for a very long time. I still struggle alot with my challenges. I am working on letting go of control of this mindset because it's not who I am but it's what my disorder is...idk if that made sense.

Eating Disorder DVD Analogy

One way to think about an unhealthy eating disorder mindset is that it is like a DVD stuck in my brain which is my DVD player. When I rely on the eating disorder mindset it keeps playing all the time in my head and I end up doing more eating disordered behaviors and i have more intrusive thoughts.

The link posted below is a resource that explains the DVD analogy. It also has lots of reflection questions to think about

Eating Disorder DVD Mindset Analogy

Recovery Mindset

A recovery mindset is like having a new DVD to add to your DVD library. Instead of only relying on the eating disorder DVD you have other ways of thinking or coping to choose from. A recovery mindset is alot like developing a growth mindset. This is a hard skill to do and it's why recovery takes a very long time. People with eating challenges didn't develop their disordered mindset overnight so replacing it with a recovery mindset is part of the healing process. This graphic I put below shows a Growth Mindset (recovery focused) compared to a Fixed Mindset (eating disorder in control). When I am in a growth mindset I am more open to the recovery process and when I am relapsing or struggling I start going back into the fixed mindset. I call that my stuck place because the eating disorder mindset takes over and it becomes more in control. When I am in a growth mindset, healthy me is making the decisions

The big difference between the two mindsets is perspective or how you view the things you experience everyday. This can even change alot during the day. Like maybe in the morning I woke up with a growth mindset then faced some big challenges that made me kinda fall back to unhealthy thinking. Recovery is teaching me alot about how to deal with these things. The big change in my thinking now is I try to recognize that I am stuck and use healthy coping to get unstuck (eject the eating disorder DVD). This is still a very hard skill for me to do. I try to make a commitment to it though.

Perspectacles

My therapist encourages me to wear different eye glasses or perspectacles when I am thinking about my thoughts, rules, expectations, behaviors, and personal challenges. It doesn't mean that I have to agree with her but it means I am making a commitment to being open and flexible to new ideas. So when I am struggling I try to picture putting on new perspectacles to get unstuck. Having a recovery focused or growth mindset helps me do this skill better

Self Care

Self care is important to recovery and to developing a recovery mindset. When you aren't taking care of yourself, it's easier for the Eating Disorder DVD to start playing again. Then the disordered mindset can come back into your brain. I'm super into sports so I learn alot of sports mental training tips in my eating disorder treatment. That's why I like this graphic because it compares self care to being ready for an important game day. When you care for yourself it improves you perspective

Don't Forget to Reward Yourself

Practicing mindsets and choosing recovery is a long process. So it is super important to remember that healing is not a linear process. Recovery is not perfect. But everyday you keep trying and working on growth is a step in the right direction. Don't forget to reward yourself for small and big victories!!!!

Remember that the eating disorder mindset didn't happen overnight and we can recover by practicing skills everyday. Skills like challenging the disordered fixed mindset by wearing growth mindset perspectacles. These perspectacles help us see things from a different perspective, even if we don't believe that perspective...yet

You can post in this thread about your successes or your challenges with mindsets. You can also share anything you want about the eating disorder DVD mindset analogy. Did you relate to any of it? If you have any mindset resources it would be awesome to post it here too <3