Self-discontinuity aids intentions to remain in recovery by undermining nostalgia for the benefits of the eating disorder.

Introduction: We explored the challenges associated with maintaining recovery from an eating disorder (ED) and the factors that contribute to these difficulties. Specifically, we investigated whether a sense of self-discontinuity or self-continuity with one's former ED self influences intentions to remain in recovery, and whether nostalgia for the perceived benefits of the ED mediates this relation. Methods: Among 189 people in recovery from an ED, self-continuity (vs. self-discontinuity) was primed and then nostalgic reverie for the benefits of the ED and intentions to remain on the recovery path were assessed. Results: Participants who were primed to feel that recovery maintains self-continuity (vs. creates self-discontinuity) reported greater nostalgia for the benefits they received from engaging in disordered eating (d =.40) and lower intentions to remain in recovery (d = -.23), but the difference for recovery intentions was not statistically significant. Critically, participants primed with self-continuity (vs. self-discontinuity) indirectly reported lower recovery intentions via greater nostalgia for the benefits they received from engaging in disordered eating. Discussion: Although most treatment modalities focus people living with an ED on a better possible future (i.e., one where the ED is absent), the results of the current research suggest that framing recovery as disconnecting the person from who they were during their ED may facilitate the recovery process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]