QUESTION: hi can you help me?? im in england i just need sum tips and support on how to get better!

ANSWER: Well, it is hard for me to offer you specific tips without knowing exactly what your issue is. I will just assume for the purposes of your letter that you are struggling with some type of disordered eating behavior, and possibly a full-fledged eating disorder. I would highly recommend that you read my answers to the other questions in this edition, and also in previous editions, for insights into what has best supported me in my own recovery work, and for questions that directly relate to your specific issues.

In the meantime, here are some general guidelines I offer to anyone who may be writing or seeking help for the first time:

  • Find your ‘key to life’ . This is the one thing, or combination of things, that matters to you MORE than your eating disorder. Recognize that you CANNOT have both your eating disorder and your ‘key to life’. Choose. Verbally choose, then choose in writing. Write out a Statement of Intent to Recover, which will include a declaration of intent to choose your ‘key to life’ over your eating disorder, no matter how long it takes or how hard you have to work. Post it in a visible place. Repeat it often.
  • Relationships Replace Eating Disorders . Cultivate relationships with others who seek recovery. Seek out any adult who could serve as part of your support team – as physician, therapist, nutritionist, mentor, psychiatrist. Seek out support opportunities online and locally in the form of recovery groups and individuals friendships with others in recovery. Read books about other courageous people who have made tough transitions – books that inspire you to overcome your challenges.
  • Turn your mind from your enemy into your ally . You must win your mind back from the eating disordered thoughts by convincing it that recovery is more in line with its best interests. For help with this, watch ‘A Beautiful Mind’, starting Russell Crowe, and read ‘The Secret Language of Eating Disorders’ by Peggy Claude-Pierre.
  • Finally, understand who you are . Anyone with the discipline to sustain an eating disorder has more than enough intelligence, discipline, drive and stamina to recover from one. Turn the loaded cannon of all that misdirected potential around and point it AT your eating disorder, and fire away! For more help with this, watch ‘Catch Me If You Can’ starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

If you have more specific questions that I can answer, please feel free to write again!

Warmly, and with HOPE,

Shannon

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