Eating Disorder Recovery — What It Actually Requires

Eating disorder recovery is frequently misunderstood — by the person experiencing it, by families, and sometimes by clinicians. It is not simply the restoration of normal eating. It is not the cessation of a behaviour. It is the construction of a different relationship with the self — one in which the eating disorder is no longer needed.

What recovery is not

Recovery is not a destination reached when the weight is restored or the behaviours have stopped. These are necessary conditions. They are not sufficient ones.

A person can be at a healthy weight and still be entirely organised around food. A person can have stopped purging and still be using food restriction, exercise, or control in ways that serve the same psychological function the bulimia did.

“I have worked with people who were, by every medical measure, recovered. And they were miserable. Because nothing had changed underneath. The body was restored but the person was still the same person who needed the disorder in the first place. That is where the real work is.” — Philippe Jacquet

The psychological work

Recovery requires understanding what the eating disorder was doing — what it was managing, what it was expressing, what it was making possible. It requires building a capacity to tolerate the feelings that the disorder was suppressing. And it requires developing a relationship with the body and the self that is not organised around control, punishment, or performance.

Philippe Jacquet’s approach

Philippe Jacquet holds a Doctorate of Professional Practice (DProf) — the only clinician in Europe with doctoral-level research specifically on male eating disorders. He has worked in eating disorder treatment for over 25 years, in both outpatient and intensive settings, and offers bespoke one-to-one treatment in London and internationally.

Book a consultation with Philippe Jacquet — eating disorder specialist and psychotherapist, London.