"At the start of a new year, many people feel a pull toward starting over. The language of resolutions, fresh starts, and getting back on track becomes especially prominent. While this mindset can support behavior change in some contexts, in eating disorders it warrants closer attention. In eating disorder treatment, this mindset often appears in predictable ways and can support recovery or reinforce the disorder, depending on how it's used."
"Patients often describe starting over as a way to undo perceived mistakes rather than tolerate imperfection. Statements like "I'll reset on Monday" or "I'll do it right this time" usually reflect an attempt to regain control and reduce internal distress. Importantly, this drive is rarely limited to food. It often reflects a broader wish to become more acceptable, more disciplined, or less emotionally exposed. In that sense, starting over functions as an avoidance strategy rather than a treatment strategy."
Starting over can either support recovery or reinforce disordered eating patterns depending on structure, intent, and support. Eating disorders are tied to black-and-white thinking, perfectionism, and shame, so reset language often signals return to restriction, rigidity, and moralized food rules. Patients use resets to undo perceived mistakes and regain control, extending beyond food to broader desires for acceptability and discipline. Urgent, all-or-nothing change increases shame when perfection inevitably breaks down. Useful forms of starting over involve meaningful shifts such as higher levels of care, reengagement with treatment, or adopting a structured, supported meal plan. Recovery grows through continuity and tolerance for imperfection.
Read at Psychology Today
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