“I’m sorry you’re going through that, but you know you’re not alone?”

“I’m sorry you’re going through that, but you know you’re not alone?”

Regaining healthy relationships after illness

By June Alexander

Sometimes when we are ill, especially with a mental health challenge, our relationship with self and with others can disconnect and disintegrate at an alarming rate. Confidence and belonging give way to shame, stigma, fear, and rejection. Openness may give way to avoidance, and confidence can morph into doubt.

It’s no wonder that when we feel vulnerable, we can also feel misunderstood, and that our actions are often misunderstood and misinterpreted by others, even close others. For my Diary Healerco-founder, Diana, who is in recovery from anorexia, both the feeling of rejection and behavior of food restricting have stemmed from fear, and both are isolating and diminishing. Diana writes:

When I became estranged from my siblings,… rejection impacted virtually every aspect of my life. I spent years keeping my family estrangement a secret, fearing that others would think of me negatively. In addition to the sadness and loneliness that I felt at the loss of my family, I felt broken, unlikable, and unlovable. I second-guessed myself in every interaction – was I doing enough, saying the right things, making them feel that I was invested? And, I became cautious of making deep connections with others for fear that they too would reject me.

Today, I still struggle with my family’s rejection, but I have come a long way in working through that pain. In therapy, I’ve worked on understanding my complicated family estrangement and co-existing eating disorder, and my therapist has been pivotal in providing me with clarity and an ability to move forward with healing. It has also been freeing to share my story with others – initially I did this through writing blog posts (which felt safer and more anonymous), and eventually I opened up to friends, family and co-workers.

One co-worker in particular, a trusts and estate lawyer who has seen countless families work though challenging times, gave me the best reaction of all by saying, “I’m sorry you’re going through that, but you know you’re not alone?”His reaction and those of many other kind and thoughtful people in my life, has not been one of negative judgement as I feared, but instead of compassion, empathy, and in many cases, a point of bonding as they too are in a similar situation. Bringing the secret of my family estrangement out of hiding has also helped me to stop hiding within my eating disorder.

I identify with Diana’s experience and likely you do, too. Relationships can become complicated when we are experiencing stress. The pain of rejection and yearning for acceptance, at times, may intensify to the point where suicide appears as an option. To live, change is imperative. We need skills to tackle the un-ease within to survive, and to re-story (re-construe and re-write—in our diary most of all) relationships in a way that will allow the next generation on our branch of the family tree to grow up feeling safe and secure.

Family secrets
Complications increase when there are family secrets. An awareness of secrets in my family began to emerge in my early 30s, each revelation providing a clue for re-piecing the shattered jigsaw that was “me”.

Worse, after each momentary revelation, everything closed up again. Lips sealed. No action taken. No wounds cleansed or tended to, no family or self-healing possible. My diary records: “I feel my heart has been wrenched and ripped from my body”.

The secrets about abuse were concealed in layers that I needed to address to recover from my eating disorder. As Evan Imber-Black notes in The Secret Life of Families, in many families where EDs develop, true individuality and painfully unacknowledged wants and yearnings may be hidden under layers of perfectionism and a defensive focus on appearances, social standing, and proprieties. This was my experience. Secrets had been suppressed in my family, by parents who were highly respected in their community, for years.

Not until middle age did I have sufficient information to reflect on and understand that in my childhood, the family secret of sexual abuse, of which I was not consciously aware, had preceded the development of my eating disorder, also of which initially I was not consciously aware. Disengagement with my healthy self had begun early.

The genetic and environmental stage was set for traumatic times upon entering adolescence and adulthood. Although my diary was an unwitting accomplice to ED, it also was a vital survival and learning tool. As recovery edged forward, its pages helped me to see how and why my illness had developed and to accept ED was an illness, not a weakness or “choice”.

Letter-writing
When verbal communication attempts to include my parents and sister failed, I did not want to give up. As a next step, I tried letter-writing. Using pen and notepaper, as this method felt more intimate, and my diary as a resource, I would make several drafts, with each re-write enabling a fresh perspective and more concise expression of emotions. This writing process encouraged more rational and realistic thinking.

Letter-writing was like a step up from diary writing. While diary writing was to myself as audience, letter-writing built on the diary’s content to a wider, yet specific, audience. This form of written communication was particularly helpful in conveying feelings an thoughts too painful to be expressed verbally, or perhaps verbal attempts had been made but were shunned or misinterpreted. Letter-writing was another way to cleanse inner wounds and assist healing. It helped to validate my experiences, allowed feelings and thoughts to be put without interruption or judgment, and provided a safe environment in which to feel connected with others and feel heard.

Whether or not the letters were sent, the process of creating them helped to strip away hurtful emotion and allowed healing. By storing original or copies in my diary, the letters became an adjunct to daily private writing. Sometimes, not sending a letter was most beneficial, for I could imagine and visualise a response or outcome that would be most helpful, and bring most happiness, to me. Sometimes, when letters were sent, no response was received, and this was more painful. I would wonder if the letter had arrived at its destination, had been misplaced, or deliberately ignored. Rejection would fire up and the diary, again, would be my solace.

Anger can be healthy

Anxiety, fear, frustration, and anger can all be disabling. But when we are recovering, they need to be confronted, addressed and expressed in our true self terms. This can be a delicate, tedious process. Much therapeutic guidance, for instance, was necessary to convince me that expressing anger could be healthy, and sometimes necessary.

I had to learn to stand my ground, safeguard and protect my self; and be pro-active rather than reactive. This turnaround in expression that required switching from feeling angry with self, to feeling angry on behalf of self, was scary but fortifying. Not only did I need to get in touch with my emotions, I needed to release them.

In doing so, I developed a healthy relationship with food, a healthy relationship with self, and a healthy relationship with others around me. Above all, I developed a healthy relationship with my diary, and from this, my wellness blossomed.

Further reading

• Alexander, J., Sangster, C. (2013) Ed Says U Said – Eating Disorder Translator, UK, Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
• Imber-Black, E. (1998). The secret life of families: Making Decisions about Secrets: When Keeping Secrets Can Harm You, When Keeping Secrets Can Heal You-And How to Know the Difference. New York, NY, US: Bantam Books.