More women than ever are in recovery. For many years, women with addictions were able to hide it or just were overlooked by the medical world until it becomes a life-or-death situation. Eating disorders (EDs) are also something that many women live with or try to hide until it becomes so dangerous it can’t be ignored anymore.
Society has a lot of expectations that it places on women, and addiction certainly has a certain stigma attached to it. At the same time, the media tells women what we can or cannot wear, the way our bodies should be shaped, what brands to wear and what standards to meet to be wanted or loved. Many women who abuse drugs have low self-esteem, and many come to treatment with eating disorders that must be treated as well.
Understanding Eating Disorders
Eating disorders often develop in a similar way to addiction. A person with an eating disorder may start with trying some yoyo diets and exercising. When they don’t feel like they have “lost enough” weight, they may resort to starving themselves or binging and purging. Eventually, the eating disorder can take over their lives. It may seem that they never can lose enough weight, even when they are sickly looking because they are so thin. A person with an eating disorder has lost control over their relationship with food, just like a person with a substance use disorder has lost control over their relationship with alcohol or drugs. They need help to get better.
Why Get Help With for EDs?
Recovery is about being as healthy as you can with your decisions and lifestyle. It also means managing any illness, including mental illness, and working on beginning to accept yourself and your life as it is right now.
Getting help can be scary, but it’s important to ask for help if you are trying to control eating (or not eating) and you realize this control is causing you pain. You deserve to be loved no matter how you look on the outside or feel on the inside. Treatment can help you learn to love all parts of yourself and cope with any trauma you have experienced. We are all humans, and we all have flaws. You are not responsible for your illness, but you’re responsible for your recovery. We urge you to get help if you have a problem relationship with food and drugs.
Getting Help
Addiction can be a lonely, scary disease that makes it seem impossible to break the cycle. The truth is that no matter who you are, or how “bad off” you feel, recovery is possible. You deserve to get help and live your best life. Please get in touch at 1-800-970-8774. All calls are confidential.