Eating Disorder Recovery and Overcoming Negative Thoughts

Eating Disorder Recovery and Overcoming Negative Thoughts

Eating disorder treatment and recovery requires a paradigm shift in thinking. If one chooses recovery, then one must begin to examine their internal dialogue and irrational conclusions about themselves and life, in general. Anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder and compulsive overeating are often signs of a troubled internal relationship with oneself. Understanding the importance of the messages we give ourselves leads many to desire a more positive internal dialogue.Resolution of uncomfortable feelings and regrettable behaviors directly improves the quality of your life. The theory of cognitive behavior therapy empowers you to use your God given logical thinking capacity to improve your life.Using cognitive behavior therapy can inspire hope, self-esteem and empowerment within you. Here are the common thinking errors identified by this theory, developed by Dr. Aaron Beck (he earned his Ph.D. in psychiatry from Yale University in 1946):Arbitrary InferenceThis means to jump to conclusions without a factual basis for your determination. It means to expect the worst, when that is generally not the way things turn out. Actually, things more often than not turn out somewhere in the middle of our highest and lowest expectations.Selective AbstractionOnly focusing on one piece of information and not taking the whole story into account. This means to select only parts of the whole picture to focus on. When we actually process things more logically, it makes sense to take in the whole picture and not just an isolated incident.OvergeneralizationTo apply a negative paradigm about ourselves or our lives to every aspect of our lives. For example, to say "I always lose" is an overgeneralization. No one always loses. Heck, out of millions of little sperm competing for an egg, you are the one that made it! So, this is one success that already contradicts the "I always lose" theory. Most people can think of a more positive and realistic perspective, once negative thinking patterns are recognized.Magnification and MinimizationTo view a situation as all good or all bad. There is much grey in life, less black and white. Stretch your mind and see both the good and the bad in situations. If I focus on economic bad news, the stock market's decline, and increasing inflation, I might feel overwhelmed about my financial security. It helps if one takes in the whole picture and does not focus on isolated aspects of a situation.Labeling and Mislabeling"I am a fat pig". Ouch! Name calling is never okay and least of all toward oneself in our internal dialogue. Calling names is never appropriate and it is certainly not constructive.Another indication of this thinking error is when one allows past experiences to determine our self esteem today. People change, evolve and grow. A failure in one's past does not mean that you cannot be successful now. It just means that you're human, like the rest of us.PersonalizationThis means to take things personally. It is never wise to tie our self esteem to the emotional vacillations of another person! Someone else letting you down does not mean you are bad. Sometimes the person, place or thing is functioning completely independent of us and we were no influence whatsoever. Quite often, others behaviors and attitudes is about them, and doesn't even involve us.Polarized ThinkingSeeing life and ourselves in black and white is a common thinking error. Not much is that simple! Try to recognize it when you are viewing a situation in extremes and choose to moderate your view. Sometimes we may work very hard, write what we view as a great paper, and disappointingly receive a C grade instead of the A we had anticipated. However, one grade and even one class does not determine your academic success overall.ConclusionsThe wonderful thing about recognizing and correcting these irrational thinking errors is that it empowers the individual struggling with an eating disorder to begin taking care of themselves emotionally. They learn self soothing skills through thinking things through in a more balanced way, thus lessening their need to practice disordered eating to cope.

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