I have used the term "recovered" and spent my entire career as an eating disorder therapist defending it... i.e., working hard to establish a consensus in our field that indeed a person who suffers from an eating disorder can become fully recovered.
Since the field does not have a definition for this term I decided to come up with my own which was first published in my book,Ā 100 Questions and Answers About Eating DisordersĀ and then inĀ 8 Keys To Recovery From an Eating Disorder:
"Being recovered is when the person can accept his or her natural body size and shape,
self destructive or unnatural relationship with food or exercise.
When you are recovered, food and weight take a proper perspective in your life
and what you weigh is not more important than who you are,
in fact, actual numbers are of little or no importance at all.
When recovered, you will not compromise your health or betray your soul
to look a certain way, wear a certain size or reach a certain number on a scale.
When you are recovered, you do not use eating disorder behaviors to deal with, distract from,
or cope with other problems."
Even though not all clinicians and thus sadly not all clients, believe that being fully "recovered" is possible, using my definition, it certainly seems like a good goal to aim for with clients and that therapists who have reached this goal would be a welcomed addition to the field. How clients and clinicians view the disorder and the end goal of treatment can affect, not only the nature of the treatment, but the actual outcome itself. If both believe that those suffering from eating disorders can be fully recovered, this will help them pursue "being recovered" as an end goal, not settling for less or ending treatment before this is accomplished.
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