What Are Eating Disorders?

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Recovery includes body, behaviors, and mindset, not just symptom stopping.

It means returning to a meaningful, engaged life.

Recovery is personal, non-linear, and broader than strict criteria.

It’s a question many people with eating disorders ask themselves, often even after months or years of working on recovery: when can it truly be said that someone has recovered?

The answer, as we now understand it, is not simple. For a long time, research relied on different definitions, making it difficult to compare results and fully understand what “recovery” really means. In recent years, however, things have begun to change. A clearer, more consistent view is emerging.

Why the Disappearance of Symptoms Is Not Enough

In the past, recovery was often defined by the disappearance of symptoms: no more binge eating, no more purging, and a return to a healthy weight. But both clinical experience and research have shown that this is not enough. A person may no longer engage in problematic behaviors and may have restored their weight, yet still struggle with intense concerns about body shape, weight, and control over eating.

This is where one of the most influential recovery models comes in, proposed by Anna M. Bardone-Cone and colleagues in a recent article in the International Journal of Eating Disorders. In their research, they examined........

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