Eating disorder recovery can be an incredibly intense process and can create a lot of stress as well as a lot of new life lessons. Many individuals may separate themselves from people in their past while separating themselves from the eating disorder. Learning to overcome an eating disorder can be incredibly empowering but can also cause loneliness and new challenges. One of the problems that exist with eating disorder recovery is establishing healthy coping skills that can be used to curb cravings in stressful situations. Even though you have completed an eating disorder treatment program, cravings are bound to appear later in your recovery. Clothing shopping, going out to eat, holidays, cooking and grocery shopping are all potential roadblocks that you may encounter in your eating disorder recovery journey that may create internal stress and can lead to cravings leading to disordered eating behaviors. Learning how to practice healthy coping skills can help you overcome cravings leading you to a successful recovery.
What is coping?
Coping is a way an individual handles psychological or mental stress to maintain a healthy and balanced life. There are negative ways to deal with mental stress that can lead to more emotional stress down the road and there are healthy ways to cope that can enable one to grow stronger and to overcome obstacles in the future. Coping skills and strategies vary from active coping skills such as problem-solving and stress reduction to avoidant coping skills such as ignoring the problem. Coping skills can either be appraisal focused which are problem-focused or emotion-focused.
Appraisal-focused coping skills are coping strategies that work to revise negative thoughts that are harming your mental space which involves changing your thought patterns and perceptions through cognitive behavioral therapy. One example is to practice gratitude instead of focusing on what you do not have.
Problem-focused coping skills are ones that work to change an individual’s behavior that is negatively impacting their everyday life. With eating disorders, it could be working to eat lunch at a specific time, rather than skipping lunch or removing the scale from the house instead of hiding it in the closet. Establishing positive preset actions to better your life can eventually become part of a regular pattern.
Emotion-focused coping skills are ones that work to change the emotional response to cope with the stressor. Instead of becoming emotional over something one can learn to separate from the stressor and to move beyond the current situation. Tools can include practices such as meditation, yoga, and relaxation and visualization exercises.
Introducing everyday coping skills into your life
Coping skills do not have to be these unattainable, lofty ideas but rather they can be everyday activities such as hobbies. Hobbies can help an individual overcome both emotional and physical barriers in their eating disorder recovery. Hobbies can also be a way to form bonds between other individuals who share the same interests thereby being a way of social support. Hobbies can be anything of interest that occupies and fascinates an individual. They can include outdoor fitness activities, traveling, learning a new language, enrolling in a cooking class, learning to knit or any other activity that allows the individual to adopt a happy mindset. Learning which coping strategies work best for you can help you choose a hobby that can strengthen you during your eating disorder recovery.