Warning and Disclaimer: This section is not intended to replace any kind of professional help. The information you find here is not certified or accredited in any way, and is not intended to be a form of professional treatment or therapy. You must determine for yourself if you are ready for professional advice of any kind, and if you feel that you are, you should seek it first. This section is a supplement to any other help you may seek, and more so for those who do not feel that they can seek professional assistance at this time. It is always advised that if you are looking for "recovery" of any kind to seek it professionally first. This website for those who suffer from anorexia or any other eating disorder, but it is more properly a site for those with an eating disorder. Members having requested it over time. I am not sure what form it will take yet, and welcome suggestions as well as resources.
Recovery is a decision made to change a set of actions and a way of thought that you have come to find harmful, unhealthy, or destructive. This is a decision; this is not something anyone can force you into; not something you should be convinced into. This is something that must be your choice, based on your personal identification of something in your life that you want to change because that thing is not what will make you a better person, in exchange for habits that will.
If you are an athlete and training to the point of exhaustion that is harmful to your body, then you must realize at what point your training has gone from physical fitness to physical harm. If you are someone who enjoys work and is motivated by the accomplishments that come with it, it is up to you to determine where it is fulfilling your life and how, and where it may be preventing you from living or appreciating the other aspects of your life.
Others can tell you what they think; they can state opinions, and possibly even state facts, but no recovery is complete, and no recovery can truly exist unless it is one that you choose.
Because this is a personal realization, and a personal choice, this section will start with it.
Been Through Recover Before?
The Road to Recovery - A Step
The approach to "recovery" This site is not one the seeking to "cure" you. The goal is not to rid you of an eating disorder. Recovery on PrettyThin means ridding yourself of habits that are not enhancing your life, and bringing into your routine the habits that will bring you greater happiness, contentment, and harmony into your life.
Feeling. We all have them, but we don't always harness them. How many people have sat crying and thought "this is perfect! I'm going to use this." Most of us don't. Most of us, including me, try to find ways to hide in the shadows so they don't have to cry any more. We try to mask the things that hurt us, or try to pretend the things that haunt us don't exist so that we don't have to face how we feel about them.
Here, we are going to do the opposite. We are going to confront our fears, our hurts, our wants, our desires, our hates; we will confront all the things that consume us, face them, and see them for what they are so that we can react to them.
Start with a writing exercise...
What is it that you are doing in your life that is harmful to it? In what way is it harmful? In what ways are your actions destructive to your mind, to your body, and to your spirit?
You must ask yourself these questions first. For you to seek help from something, you must first be able to identify it, and willing to try.
Your first task is this identification. Sit down with some paper (or at our computer) and start writing. Don't edit; don't proof read; don't try to correct your spelling or grammar. This is not a test - it is an exercise.
Be blunt. Be honest. Be as open as you can be. It may take time, and may take you several sittings to open up. Do not expect to be honest with yourself, or to be comfortable bringing to works the things that are the root of the issue. As you write, you will find yourself peeling away at layers, and in between sittings as you go about your daily routine, you will find yourself thinking about it and peeling way at it even more.
Write about when you started the habits, and what led you to them. Write about how it has brought you happiness, and in what way it has, and then write about how it has brought you hurt or how it is harming you and in what way.
Ask yourself what's next? If you continue with your current habits (or old ones), what is the end result? Where do you think it will lead you, and will that fulfill you and how. And if you change your habits, what is it you are hoping to gain, and what is it that you hope to leave behind.
Do not try to find a cure for yourself. Do not try to find a solution. The point of this is not to find the "how" but to find the "what" and the "why." If you need help with this, I am asking you to take the step and reach me personally. How do you do that? Find me on Facebook, and send me a message. It may take me a couple days to reply, but I will reply.
This is the first step for now. This step may change over time as more discussions take place with members, and the following steps will be formulated as such.
Online:
Eating Disorders Anonymous Online Meeting
Tuesdays @ 12:15pm CT
edanonymous.blogspot.com/
Ed Recovery Jax Online Support Group
Thursdays from 9:00 pm - 10:00 pm.
www.edrecoveryjax.com
FREE Online Live Moderated Chat E-Support Group
Every Monday night from 8-9pm CST
Every Thursday night from 8-9pm CST
MentorCONNECT Community Forums Chat Room - simply log on with your email and password to attend
Website: www.key-to-life.com/mentorconnect
Email: mc@key-to-life.com
Healing Cove: An Eating Disorders Support Community
An eating disorder community of hope, support and healing. For anyone who is suffering from, recovering from or seeking support. Also a community for the family members and friends of those hurting and are seeking support and advice.
Website: healingcove.socialgo.com
Night eating syndrome Support Group
Website: www.mdjunction.com/night-eating-syndrome
The Center for Eating Disorders at Shephard Pratt
Live Chat Support Groups
Join us once a month from the comfort of your own computer, for a web-based, recovery-oriented discussion with other individuals who understand what you are going through. All on-line support groups are moderated and facilitated by a treatment professional.
The 2nd Monday of each month 8:00 – 9:15 pm
Register in advance for a confidential username and password on The Center for Eating Disorders' Discussion Board.
We will have a forum with members soon.