The Role of Spirituality in Eating Disorder Treatment and Recovery

Publisher Summary Spirituality is only one component of rigorous clinical treatment, but it is vital. This chapter describes research findings about the role of spirituality in recovery from eating disorder (ED). Clinical experience has also convinced us that religious and spiritual issues are significant in both ED etiology and recovery. Providing treatment to hundreds of women in a specialized treatment center suggests that deep spiritual struggles are a major impediment in many women's recovery process. Conducting a religious and spiritual assessment uncovers and clarifies the possibilities, hopes, and desires about what patients truly want, how they want their spiritual life to be, and how they might want to incorporate spirituality into their treatment and recovery. Once the patients' strengths and their personal resources are identified, treatment can tap into them. While religious beliefs and background may contribute to their conflicts, impasses, and difficulties, it also helps to understand the positive, the uplifting, and the strengthening aspects of patients' spirituality and religiosity that may assist them in recovery.