A number of months ago I received an email from an anonymous email address that was entitled “PTSD and ED recovery”. The email read:

I have listened to your podcast that talked about the unfortunately common co-morbidity of eating disorders and PSTD from sexual assault. I wanted to contact you to share an anonymous chronicle I have just written that might help others. I have just completed prolonged exposure (PE) therapy for an historical sexual assault that has underpinned my ED over many decades. I feel like my recovery from both conditions has finally truly begun.

The attached anonymous chronicle describes the PE process, reflecting on its impact on my PTSD symptoms and also my ED recovery progress. I’d like to share this chronicle with others who may be reluctant to embark on this journey without more information about the process and its impacts on both conditions. I hope this case study will be a useful resource for researchers, healthcare professionals (therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, dieticians, general practitioners), and survivors of trauma who may have developed an ED as a coping mechanism.

Are you able to suggest where I should send it to reach any interested audience? 

As I read through this email, I was rather intrigued. I have many clients who have suffered all different types of trauma and these are often connected, either directly or indirectly, in them going on to develop an eating disorder. Or if the eating disorder is already present, the trauma has a hand in making it significantly worse.  

While I was aware of exposure therapy, I had not come across prolonged exposure therapy being used for trauma. So I read the chronicle and found it hugely enlightening for me and thought that it would be useful to have her come on the show and talk about her experience. 

Now, this podcast is a heavy one and comes with a trigger warning about many topics, which I go through at the start of the episode. But if this is something that you do feel comfortable listening to, I hope you find it helpful in understanding how prolonged exposure therapy can be useful for PTSD and when may be the right time to do this if you are also suffering from an eating disorder. 

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