Live from the Institute for Functional Medicine Annual International Conference 2019
A strengths-based approach to eating disorder recovery
There are very few practitioners outside of the eating disorder specialty who can effectively identify patients who need help and treatment, said Amy Pershing, LMSW, ACSW, at the 2019 Institute for Functional Medicine Annual International Conference in San Antonio, Texas.
An eating disorder is a relationship with food, weight, or exercise that is used to meet needs other than the needs these things can truly fulfill. It is a serious mental illness, Pershing said.
People never choose an eating disorder. Eating disorders cause extreme distress. They rob sufferers of most of their energy, attention, and focus. No one with an eating disorder can simply stop the behaviors. Willpower has nothing to do with it. No matter how difficult, people are terrified to let go of the eating disorder. For those with eating disorders and trauma, the eating disorder allowed them to survive.
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