In the previous article about the pessimistic outlook on the life of people with an eating disorder, I touched a little on the topic of devaluation, since they largely go hand in hand. Perhaps this character quality - devaluing one's achievements - is what most hinders the recovery of people with anorexia, bulimia, and often overeating. After all, food addicts devalue absolutely all their therapeutic achievements, both small steps and major victories. For this reason, by the way, specialists who work with food addicts must not only have limitless patience, but also the ability to time after time find the right words to explain and convince clients otherwise. Until the addict learns to objectively analyze his actions, and, thanks to this, stops destroying himself, it is impossible to talk about recovery. And vice versa, we can say that if a person has learned to appreciate his efforts, recovery is just around the corner. The mechanism of devaluation is laid down in childhood. The parents of such a child, as a rule, place extremely high demands on themselves. Following this, the same high demands are placed on the child. For example, when a child is only 4-5 years old, you can hear the phrase from them: “Why praise him? He didn't do anything special." They completely forget (or don’t know at all) that not only is praise extremely necessary for any person for a healthy state of mind, but a child also needs unconditional praise, as support for his life value, for the fact that he simply exists and is loved just the way he is. It is very important to understand that praise is often not an objective assessment of actions or behavior - your own or your child's. The ability to praise yourself and others is a certain way of thinking and attitude towards yourself, everyone around you, and life in general. He talks about how high human demands are not only for people, but for life, for space, for fate. Not all of these demands are realized, and little by little they turn into unrequited complaints and disappointments. Over time, this becomes a heavy burden, annoying and embittering. And people are no longer able to see the positive, successful, cheerful, beautiful, light, sweet sides of anything; they see only disappointing flaws in everything! Here are their typical dialogues with children: “A deuce? Well, I could have tried at least for a C.” "Troika? There was nothing to watch TV yesterday!” "Four? If only I had worked for another hour yesterday, I would have gotten an A, but so... what can I get from you?” "Five? Well, what's surprising about this? This is normal for you." This is how they look at life, they want some kind of ideal, but they themselves don’t know what it is. Unfortunately, the child does not understand this view of the world. For him, every devaluation is words about how bad he is, how worthless, how untalented, how unloved he is by this very world and by his parents in particular. However, over the years of childhood, he gets used to such an assessment of himself in the eyes of his parents and gradually evaluates himself more and more in the same way. If such children or adults meet someone who brings them down, they do not trust them, neither their assessment of themselves nor their views on life in general. As a result, they avoid exactly those people who they need so much, who know how to enjoy life and provide support, who know how to think constructively and positively. Usually psychologists are just such people, but clients with eating disorders trust them with great difficulty. To avoid denial and mistrust, it is best to turn to the strong side of the addicts themselves - their intelligence. It is important for them that there is a logical and reasonable explanation for everything, supported by facts, therefore, at the beginning of therapy, it is better for the psychologist to explain in great detail both the general aspects of eating disorders and to analyze in detail the small details of everyday life and/or the therapeutic steps performed, giving them rational , conscious and understood interpretations. That is why it is best suited for the treatment of eating disorder and especially for anorexia and bulimia./