Treating the cause vs treating the symptom

When we focus exclusively on the symptom, we are unable to see the bigger picture and it is more likely we’ll remain in a vicious circle. In the case of issues related to food, the case is we usually persistently try to introduce stricter rules and "discipline" ourselves. Discipline is often just a milder word for self-punishment.

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So we punish ourselves for something we don’t essentially understand why we’re doing. Something in us is trying to speak, to fight for its place, to look for what it needs in the only way it knows, but at the same time it terrifies us so much that we would rather try to shut that voice up than listen to it. ⁣

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In psychotherapy, we try not to stay too long in the vicious circle of symptoms, but to go a step deeper, towards what the symptoms are trying to convey, towards what overeating, restriction, excessive exercise, obsessive meal planning, etc. are trying to say. At the same time, step by step, we are building the capacity to endure what they have to say, because if it was easy to hear, we would have already heard it. Once we manage to listen, we can start feeding ourselves what we really need.