If you have trouble managing an eating disorder on your own, it’s time to seek professional help. At an anorexia treatment center, like that at Crossroads, you can rely on the experience and knowledge of clinical professionals who help people recover from eating disorders every day. There is no shame in getting help, and women struggle every day with the stigmas associated with anorexia and misinformation surrounding it. As you are around peers who share the same struggles and receive care in a comfortable, home-like environment, it sets you up to successfully recover from your eating disorder. We offer both residential and intensive outpatient treatment options.
Recognizing Triggers and Avoiding Relapse
Quite simply, a trigger is anything that can set you off and make you fall into destructive repetitive behaviors, like an eating disorder. Triggers can be social, situational, environmental, psychological, or physiological, and they are different for everyone. Triggers cause you to react in an unhealthy way that serves as a distraction in the moment. Unfortunately, those actions can quickly become habits. Those with eating disorders feel a compulsive urge to act on the chaotic thoughts and feelings when triggered.
Triggers, and the feelings and actions they lead to, are not necessarily rational or logical. This makes it even harder to identify triggers, as they sometimes don’t make sense. Eating disorders tend to be coping mechanisms, providing a very temporary but very unhealthy level of comfort. In eating disorder treatment, clients learn that the temporary comfort is clearly fleeting and ultimately really destructive. Those in treatment work to find smarter, healthier, and more logical reactions to triggers. There are several things you can do to help avoid triggers and relapse.
Try to Avoid Your Triggers
Once you’ve identified your triggers with the help of your treatment team, try to avoid them. Remove yourself from destructive situations. Try not to see the people who are negative influences, and create new routines and relationships that help you stay focused on your recovery.
Make a Plan for How You Will Deal with Triggers
Make a plan so you know how you will deal with each of the triggers you have identified. This way, you are prepared instead of caught off guard when the trigger rears its ugly head. This practice could be things like calling on friends or family to come over, reading a book or watching a movie, journaling, or even just going for a walk.
Get Support If You Need It
Don’t just get the support, but use it. A strong support network is critical to your recovery, both in and out of treatment. The people who love, support, and encourage you are the people you want around when you feel the pressure of triggers and temptation creeping in. Let family, friends, and healthcare professionals be there for you when you need support.
Follow a Routine
A daily routine will help food become more of a routine rather than something you obsess over. This can include meal planning, planned food shopping days, and even regular nights out with friends from your support network.
Focus on Yourself and Help Others
Make time to do things that make you happy. Reward yourself for hard work and success. But, you can also find a way to channel your recovery into doing good if you feel called. You are in a unique situation where your experience can really benefit others going through the same thing. This could make you happy too.
Getting Treatment For Anorexia
Seeking treatment, and recovering from an eating disorder like anorexia, is a big step. Unfortunately, it can be overwhelming. This is why the help of professionals as you go through this process is so invaluable. One of the hardest parts of the process is avoiding a relapse. It takes commitment and learning how to recognize what triggers could hinder your recovery are key. The risk of relapse exists whether you recover quickly or it takes you years to recover fully.
The professionals at Crossroads use a broad range of evidence-based treatment modalities to treat eating disorders like anorexia and help you avoid a relapse. Treatment can include:
- Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)
- Trauma therapy
- Individual, group, and family therapy
- Motivational interviewing
- Medical nutrition therapy
- Mindfulness-based relapse prevention
- Expressive therapies like art and music
Contact Crossroads Today
Crossroads has been helping people recover from addiction and behavioral health issues for over 40 years. We pride ourselves on our unique gender-specific treatment programs for women in the beautiful state of Maine. In response to the increasing number of women dealing with both substance use disorders and eating disorders, we created an eating disorder treatment center to deal with these co-occurring disorders. Early intervention is always best, so reach out and learn more about our programs and specifically our eating disorder treatment center at Crossroads.
The trained professionals at Crossroads Maine help you better understand the options for eating disorders available to you or someone you love. Contact us through our online form or call 877.978.1667 today.
