I shared these brief thoughts through Vancouver Island Voices for Eating Disorders (VIVED) social media, but there is so much in this perspective that really speaks to my experiences of having disparate parts of myself labelled as separate diagnoses. I thought it was worth sharing these thoughts in this space too.
If you are curious to learn more about trauma-informed approaches for eating disorders, I highly recommend the book of that title (see references below). Despite the problematic gendered language and weight stigma, there is a lot of good information in the book for professionals, support persons, and individuals struggling with eating disorders. That said, for the latter persons, read with caution as there are blunt descriptions of trauma and potential physiologic consequences of some eating disorders.
When supporting individuals recovering from an eating disorder or related mental illness that is situated in the context of trauma, certain therapeutic paradigms offer us a window into a de-pathologized approach to healing underlying trauma.
For example, within the Internal Family Systems (IFS) paradigm, symptoms are regarded as "motivated behaviour of protected parts." Rather than affixing a diagnostic label to each presenting part (such as BPD to a "firefighter" part), the focus is on developing a clear sense of the whole internal landscape and how these seemingly disparate and often dissociated parts, are interconnected.
Within paradigms such as IFS, additional psychiatric "[diagnoses typically capture the activity of the dominant protective part rather than elucidating the state of the whole system."]
To truly focus on healing and supporting these disparate parts to come together, we cannot affix labels that perpetuate fragmentation of the individual.
- S.
References:
"Trauma-Informed Approaches to Eating Disorders." Ed. Andrew Seubert & Pam Virdi
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