#emotional-pain

#emotional-pain

Eating disorders often look like they're about discipline or willpower, weight loss or weight gain, control or chaos. That's precisely how diet culture wants us to see them. But underneath, they're about pain, about regulation, about protection.

Not all emotional pain comes from the same brain circuits that process trauma.

The need for connection is evolutionary. Traveling in packs offered physical protection and emotional support. Ostracism threatens belonging more clearly and more strongly than other unpleasant social responses.

Over a century ago, psychologist William James wrote, "My experience is what I agree to attend to." Neuroscience has since confirmed this insight, showing that emotional states are tied to where attention goes.

I am the only daughter in a family with four brothers. My family treats me like I don't exist. It hurts deeply knowing my father doesn't even like me.