To fill the VOID (the space and needs) not filled by the False Harmonic Self, the eating disordered behaviors become more important and functional in the regulation of our thoughts, feelings, and needs. In a disordered manner, the Real Self becomes disproportionately attuned to the experience of the symptoms (see Figure Two).
The result is a self-perpetuating, self-reinforcing disorder. In the most chronic and clinical cases, disordered self-attunement becomes the central organizing feature of a person’s life.
It may be, in part, the self-attunement combined with the false-attunement with the outside world that contributes to the treatment resistance for which eating disorder symptoms are known.
| D i s o r d e r e d E a t i n g | ||
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An eating disorder creates one single parameter (or way) to alter and interpret mood.
At times, it is easier to focus on this single parameter because what is going on inside (cognitive, emotional, and physiological experiences) and what is happening on the outside (family, community, and cultural issues) get so complicated, conflicted, and/or overwhelming that we want to believe that if we get this one thing right, it will all be okay. (Paraphrased from Sheila M. Reindl in her book, Sensing the Self) |
