So with a 'ho' here and a 'ho' there we chugged up and down this majestic mountain. Strangely enough, from a slightly twisted perspective, that has been Irene's message all along to me. A typical problem is that the anorexic's diminished rational ability leads to eventual dependency on people who aren't the most nurturing regarding recovery. Worse yet, often the anorexic's extreme rituals and strong privacy needs lead to isolation. Seriously, the importance of establishing a real client need to recover cannot be overestimated.
Bulimic anorexics can be extremely manipulative regarding professional assistance.
Their tremendous capacity to please significant other people may be their actual reason for starting therapy. It is always better to do life than to be done by it. This same type of irrationality permeates a bulimic anorexic's entire cognitive behavior. In essence, her appetite control mechanism stops working. Otherwise, she'll slide back into the black funk of her disorder where she becomes a supposed master of food intake regulation.