Eating Disorders Through An IFS Lens

When you think about eating disorders, what comes to your mind?

Maybe you think of the stereotypical behaviors, such as restriction or purging.

Maybe you feel heart ache for the people you love who have struggled with one.

Or maybe you notice yourself believing that eating disorders are selfish or stupid.

What if I were to say that an eating disorder could be a ‘part’ of someone?

Dr. Richard Schwartz developed the practice of Internal Family Systems…

Which is a non-pathologizing evidence-based psychotherapy that helps people heal by accessing and healing their protective and inner wounded parts.

There are protector parts, called managers, and they are PROACTIVE. They try to step in, before you feel overwhelmed.

When an eating disorder acts as a manager, it could look like counting calories, prioritizing exercise over everything else, and planning your next binge/purge.

There are also protector parts, called firefighters, and they are REACTIVE. They step in after you feel overwhelmed, and do what they need to put the ‘fire’ (pain, distress, etc.) out.

When an eating disorder acts as a firefighter, it could look like, restricting for a long period of time, impulsively purging, and numbing through binge-eating.

Regardless of whether it is a manager or firefighter, it is always protecting an inner wound.

These wounds could look like:

You grew up in a chaotic home, and having control in your life is the only way you feel ‘safe’.

You experienced emotional abuse during your childhood, and feel unworthy of goodness and nourishment

You grew up believing you were bad, and any reminder of that feeling is too painful to hold.

These protector parts, like eating disorders, have good intentions. They genuinely believe they are taking care of you. They believe they are protecting you from these scary feelings.

Through IFS, we connect with these protective parts and let them know they can relax.

It is a whole process, that is too extensive to list here, but there is one thing you can do:

Name it. When we name it, we can help tame it.

So, if you resonate with any of this, naming your eating disorder part can be powerful.

Maybe it looks like, “Hey [eating disorder part], I see you are feeling upset right now and feel you need to protect me.”

That’s it. Validation. Let that part know you see it, so it can ease a bit.

I hope this helps!