Unbearable Emotions and Feelings
The Term "eating disorders," like many analytical labels, describes a variety of dynamics and experiences; whereas a couple people might both over-eat and purge, the psychological explanations why they do therefore can be different. I'd like to talk among my customers who suffered from bulimia, in addition to the emotional factors involved, as her narrative sheds light on a far larger issue: how people may cope with excruciating emotions and feelings from trying to do away with them. When I understood there might be an association between childhood sexual abuse and bulimia; I was aware that low self-esteem and perfectionism likely played a role. The first time we met, the marriage counselor Sharon said she'd been sexually molested by her step father during her first teens; while she didn't hit me as with especially low self esteem, she'd seem quite perfectionistic and self-critical. In our early stages, but what struck me most was little she could tolera...