You Recovered From Your Eating Disorder, So Why Are You Still Anxious?This is a solo episode that hits different.I'm addressing something I'm hearing from clients constantly: "I've stopped restricting. I'm eating freely. I haven't binged or purged in months. I'm doing all the work, Victoria, but I'm still having panic attacks. I'm still depressed. Sometimes I'm more anxious now than when I had the eating disorder. Have I done something wrong?"The answer is no. You've actually uncovered what was there all...
You Recovered From Your Eating Disorder, So Why Are You Still Anxious?
This is a solo episode that hits different.
I'm addressing something I'm hearing from clients constantly: "I've stopped restricting. I'm eating freely. I haven't binged or purged in months. I'm doing all the work, Victoria, but I'm still having panic attacks. I'm still depressed. Sometimes I'm more anxious now than when I had the eating disorder. Have I done something wrong?"
The answer is no. You've actually uncovered what was there all along.
This episode is for you if:
• You're recovered (or nearly recovered) but still struggling with anxiety, depression, panic, or shutdown
• You feel like recovery was supposed to fix everything, but you're still a mess
• You're wondering if you failed at recovery or if something's wrong with you
• The eating disorder was actually numbing what's underneath
• You're grieving the loss of your coping mechanism
• You want to know what the fuck to do about it
In this episode, we cover:
✨ Why recovery can actually make anxiety and depression feel worse
✨ The eating disorder as a coping mechanism — what it was really managing
✨ The window of tolerance and nervous system dysregulation explained
✨ Why your nervous system is swinging between panic and shutdown
✨ Hyper arousal vs hypo arousal — and which bank you're hitting
✨ How trauma and childhood overwhelm shaped your window of tolerance
✨ Why the eating disorder communicated what you couldn't say
✨ You are NOT a victim to your nervous system — you can manage it
✨ Up-regulation tools for when you're flat, numb, and depressed
✨ Down-regulation tools for when you're panicking, anxious, and overwhelmed
✨ The STOP skill from DBT — interrupt the automatic response
✨ Natural reframes to stop the shame spiral
✨ How to widen your window of tolerance intentionally and slowly
✨ It's not about avoiding the banks — it's about your relationship to them
✨ Practicing at your edge consistently until it expands
✨ Using fear foods as nervous system expansion work
✨ Why this is the real recovery work nobody talks about
Powerful quotes from the episode:
💬 "You didn't do anything wrong. You've just uncovered what was there all along."
💬 "Your eating disorder was never the problem. It was your solution to a problem. Now the solution is gone."
💬 "Recovery makes this worse because now you're feeling the full force of your nervous system dysregulation without the coping mechanism."
💬 "You are not a victim to your nervous system. You can actually manage it."
💬 "It's not about making the river wider so you never touch the banks. It's about your relationship to the banks when you do hit them."
If you're recovered but still struggling, if you're wondering what's wrong with you, if you're grieving the loss of your eating disorder because at least it managed something — this episode will reframe everything.
You're not broken. You're not failing at recovery. You're just finally feeling what was always there, and now you get to learn how to actually manage it.
The song I recommended:
QUIET (Acoustic) Hillside Recording & Diana Trout
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