Frustrating the recovery narrative: Living well with an eating disorder

Abstract

This piece is based on an open discussion between five adults who have all experienced/continue to experience various forms of eating disorders. Here, they challenge the linear, progressive notion of recovery as a journey from being ill to being ‘recovered’. Instead of a single narrative on recovery, the group hopes to make space for the multiplicity of different experiences, highlighting the notion of ‘living well’ with an eating disorder – a journey which involves re-building relationships with oneself and others, as well as with the eating disorder itself. By sharing this conversation, the group hopes to challenge the hierarchical notion where the expert voice is always given more value than lived experience, using their own words to craft a different way forward.