This is How An Eating Disorder Develops
<p>Looking through my childhood photo albums usually raises two emotions: sadness and longing.</p>
<p>There is sadness for the little girl whose father made her run laps on hot New Mexico summer afternoons. When she threw up, he said she was lazy.</p>
<p>I long to explain it’s not her fault he’s so angry and that her body is beautiful.</p>
<p>Throughout my marriage, I, for the most part, didn’t binge and restrict—my go-to eating disorder behavior. In college, I used to be bulimic, but after seeing blood and bloodshot eyes, I scared myself into stopping.</p>
<p>I also didn’t want my boyfriend/future husband to think something was wrong with me. Weight gain of any kind was torture. Because my ex made it clear he liked a specific type, I used strict diet and exercise programs throughout our relationship.</p>
<p>I hid my insecurities around food and my body image for years.</p>
<p>When a psychologist diagnosed me with anorexia nervosa, autism, and bipolar II just before the pandemic, I dismissed the eating disorder.</p>
<p>Bipolar II turned out to be masked autism and unresolved cPTSD from childhood and marital trauma.</p>
<p><a href="https://medium.com/black-bear-recovery/this-is-how-an-eating-disorder-develops-caa46d76a4d1">Read More</a></p>