Inside the Silent Struggle: Unraveling the Raw Truths of Eating Disorder Recovery in Slip
Slip’s most important contribution is putting a name to a phenomenon that many sufferers of chronic illness will know intimately: the middle place. Tarpley argues for a more nuanced understanding of what recovery looks like, especially as recovery from an eating disorder looks markedly different than recovery from drug or alcohol abuse. Someone with an eating disorder will ultimately need to eat again; meaning the possibility for disordered behaviors always lurks. “I’m further along than I ever thought I would be,” she writes in the introduction. “But my disorder isn’t gone.” The middle place is neither active addiction or disorder, nor is it full recovery. It is not perfectionism but acceptance, and for a disorder that relies so heavily on the idea of perfection, this mental shift is critical to ongoing maintenance.
