Comments on: anorexia, appetites, and avoidance http://www.moritherapy.org/article/anorexia-appetites-and-avoidance/ making lives better, making better lives Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:02:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: isabella mori http://www.moritherapy.org/article/anorexia-appetites-and-avoidance/comment-page-1/#comment-266902 isabella mori Wed, 17 Oct 2007 18:01:54 +0000 http://www.moritherapy.org/article/anorexia-appetites-and-avoidance/#comment-266902 emi, thank you for your comments. about not being civilized. i know i was going out a bit on a limb there :) this is, of course, different for everyone. but for the perfectionistic/restrictive type, reflecting on how much he or she has covered herself with "the veneer of civilization" might be useful. and of course it's not so much about the appetites but how we feel about them - and how we react to those feelings. i imagine a few scenarios here: "what? you're hungry AGAIN? geez, you can't get enough, can you. no more food for you today, missy!" "you're hungry again? geez, you can't get enough, can you. --- ooops, that was the disease talking. ok. deep breath. what's the best thing to do now?" "oh, interesting. i guess that's hunger. hm. that feels like ... both a sensation and a bit emotional. interesting. let's eat half a banana and see what happens." this might illustrate a progression towards recovery - what do you think? emi, thank you for your comments.

about not being civilized. i know i was going out a bit on a limb there :) this is, of course, different for everyone. but for the perfectionistic/restrictive type, reflecting on how much he or she has covered herself with “the veneer of civilization” might be useful.

and of course it’s not so much about the appetites but how we feel about them – and how we react to those feelings. i imagine a few scenarios here:

“what? you’re hungry AGAIN? geez, you can’t get enough, can you. no more food for you today, missy!”

“you’re hungry again? geez, you can’t get enough, can you. — ooops, that was the disease talking. ok. deep breath. what’s the best thing to do now?”

“oh, interesting. i guess that’s hunger. hm. that feels like … both a sensation and a bit emotional. interesting. let’s eat half a banana and see what happens.”

this might illustrate a progression towards recovery – what do you think?

]]> By: Emi http://www.moritherapy.org/article/anorexia-appetites-and-avoidance/comment-page-1/#comment-263854 Emi Tue, 16 Oct 2007 04:39:09 +0000 http://www.moritherapy.org/article/anorexia-appetites-and-avoidance/#comment-263854 I read "Gaining" back in April and loved it but was also scared by it. I don't want anorexia to be haunting me all my life. And I'm not sure about becoming less "civilized". An anorexic friend of mine (definitely the "bingeing type") was all appetite in so many ways. At one point in my recovery I also met some Latin American women who were anorexic, and they were pretty wild in some ways. So I think it's not the appetites themselves but how I feel about them, how my body feels and reacts to taking in a lot of food. It's not feeling the emotions but how I feel about having felt and expressed them. Some of that's my Japanese heritage, I think, but some of it's me. It's kind of iterative (or recursive if you like that word). I feel that I feel that I feel... and somewhere in there I do some real feeling. But I ruminate about it all, and am very sensitive/perfectionistic too. I think a key thing for my recovery from anorexia is really paying attention to my own needs and wants and desires, from animal urges to subtle feelings, honoring all of them, embracing them, and acting on them in a way that doesn't hurt me. Emi I read “Gaining” back in April and loved it but was also scared by it. I don’t want anorexia to be haunting me all my life. And I’m not sure about becoming less “civilized”. An anorexic friend of mine (definitely the “bingeing type”) was all appetite in so many ways. At one point in my recovery I also met some Latin American women who were anorexic, and they were pretty wild in some ways.
So I think it’s not the appetites themselves but how I feel about them, how my body feels and reacts to taking in a lot of food. It’s not feeling the emotions but how I feel about having felt and expressed them. Some of that’s my Japanese heritage, I think, but some of it’s me. It’s kind of iterative (or recursive if you like that word). I feel that I feel that I feel… and somewhere in there I do some real feeling. But I ruminate about it all, and am very sensitive/perfectionistic too.
I think a key thing for my recovery from anorexia is really paying attention to my own needs and wants and desires, from animal urges to subtle feelings, honoring all of them, embracing them, and acting on them in a way that doesn’t hurt me.
Emi

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