Sonja Skocic
The Melbourne Clinic, Australia
Title: Recovering from an eating disorder in a Western World
Biography
Biography: Sonja Skocic
Abstract
People with eating disorders adhere to rigid rules that maintain their disorder. During recovery, these rules fade and new rules are developed. Unfortunately, the rest of the world doesn’t nurture the same recovery focused rules so recovery can be a minefield for many people. Our clients with eating disorders are surrounded by a world that nurtures unrelenting standards and unhealthy relationships to food, weight and shape Popular western culture objectifies women and encourages scrutiny, manipulation and transformation of bodies. Social media, television and sexist advertising impact negatively on body satisfaction, self-esteem (Bardone-Cone & Cass, 2007; Tiggemann & Slater, 2013), the perception of heaviness in the body and lowered self-worth (Bardone-Cone & Cass, 2007), and influence eating behaviour (Smith, Hames, & Joiner Jr., 2013). Many women internalise the ‘thin ideal’ (Thompson & Stice, 2001), take a hyper-critical observer perspective of their body (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) which then influences body-hatred. Gendered cultural context plays a role in the development and maintenance of eating disorders. The aim of this presentation is to highlight the different rules that people in recovery from eating disorders have noticed they need to live by when compared to the rest of the world. Sonja will present some recovery oriented rules that her clients have developed, some that research recommends and others that she has observed in her clinical experience as being essential to recovery and maintaining a recovery focused view. Recommendations for clients with eating disorders, their families and friends as well as clinicians working in this field will be discussed.