ABSTRACT
Chapter 18, thinking and linking, captures pivotal moments for three patients, as each arrives at the realization that her eating disorder no longer serves the purpose for which it had been devised. Each had tried her best to think her way through the terror and helplessness mirrored by her eating disorder; each had been dependent on the feeding to manage unmanageable and unimaginable fears. Ultimately, learning to think with the mind rather than the body is an ongoing process, and letting go of the symptom of bingeing and purging often means that all the reasons it was needed to begin with make themselves known. Uncovering the roots of the eating disorder and learning to think together to end the solitary, objectless state it represents provides the perseverant individual with a new sense of stability and groundedness; it helps her pick up the developmental pieces of her childhood where they were lost, identify and work toward the kinds of emotional connections to herself and others she has longed for, develop the tools and strategies needed to tolerate living in her own body and mind, and above all, move from perseveration to the perseverance to live a more nourishing life.
