OWN continues their change your life TV with this weeks episode of Addicted to Food.  Already day 15 into the 42 day intensive treatment program at Shades of Hope in Buffalo Gap, Texas, the clients are in for an emotional week.   Tennie McCarty, Shades founder and CEO, tells us that many addicts use addiction to soothe the pain of living.  This week, it’s time for the clients to get the pain out.

Anger reduction work is the focus this week in treatment and there is a lot of work to be done.  “Recovery is about not living in the past,” Tennie tells us.  “Many clients deal with childhood abuse…and many times that is when the eating disorder started.”  Taking them back to their childhood helps them re-engage the painful moments and take back their own power.

For the experience, the clients make dolls for the emotional journey. “The doll making process allows them to reconnect to the inner child that experienced the abuse and neglect,” Kim McCarty explains.  This helps them to reconnect to that powerless child who didn’t have a voice to the abuse. This process also helps the client to physically and emotionally stand up for themselves as an adult.  Through the shame and anger group therapy sessions, clients are encouraged to “release the rage and anger instead of eating over it.”  Tennie tells us that “this process is about growing yourself up. Don’t be stuck in your abusive childhood or past. Take a stand for yourself and push through it.” Face the past…and this process promises to lead you on the road to healing and recovery.

Well into the journey, we begin to see that food addiction has little to do with food and a lot more to do with feelings and dealing with those feelings.  Amy, who had a very traumatic childhood with sexual, physical and emotional abuse as well as rejection, is having a hard time moving through this phase of the work.  Tennie tells her at one point, “visualize the black shame moving off your body and moving over to them (the abusers)…” but also reminds us that it’s her work to do and she has to give it up and let it go when she’s ready.  Amy may not be ready to feel those emotions…and stand up for her inner child but when watching, I was standing up for her…because NO ONE should have to go through what she did. I hope she finds that power…and feels the support of the world.

At the end of this week’s episode, Tennie and the group go through the ritual of burning excuses which represents “getting rid of excuses for staying in the disease,” Tennie calls it.  “You need to be honest and make a decision to recover.  Do you want to stay in the disease or do you want to recover? This program is about looking into the future and toward something much better.”  The ritual constitutes writing down the excuses – what’s coming between you and your recovery – and burning them or getting rid of them. “It’s just that easy,” Kim says.  “Get rid of your excuses.”

Moving through the treatment proves emotional this week and key to the recovery process.  OWN continues to deliver lessons each week, not just for people who may be addicted to food or addicted to anything, but for those looking for ways to empower themselves, to move through any darkness and to find a lighter and brighter life on the other side.  Addicted to Food is more about getting to your best life by moving through the darkness …and moving you forward to get there.  With this…we’ll move forward to next week. 

Insightful Notes:

• During the shame and anger sessions clients say, “I have a right to be angry and I’m giving you back this pain…”
• Allow yourself to feel the anger…and the pain…and the rage and the tears.
• “This is the first time I’ve ever asserted this kind of power for myself.” – Camille
• It is both a “release and relief for doing this type of work.” – Tennie McCarty
• “We’re very big on feeding people by the clock…eating at regular intervals is essential for eating disorder clients.” – Tennie McCarty
•  “You have to take direction and be willing to make some changes…” – Tennie McCarty
• “Changing behavior doesn’t take time…it’s just about changing the behavior.  Acknowledging the behavior doesn’t constitute changing behavior.  You have to do the work.” – Tennie McCarty
• Changing your mind is a big part of recovery.
• “None of us do this perfect….we only have today…today is the only day of recovery that we have.” – Tennie McCarty