Firm Purpose of Amendment and Eating Disorder

[coffee_kat]

Hi all,

I have been struggling for a while with disordered eating and exercising habits, and I have health problems now that I think might have been caused by my worst phase from nearly a year ago.

I’m at a healthy weight and I eat almost normally now, but there’s some bad habits I‘m too scared to let go of. And even though gaining some extra weight might help with the health issues, it scares me and I’m trying really hard not to- I have even cut back a little bit on food again lately to lose just a teensy bit of weight, even though this could be harmful for me since my health is still out of whack.

I tried explaining this to my priest when I went to confession, and of course he said that I should stop doing this if it’s harmful to my health. But even while confessing, I still felt too afraid to give up my habits completely, so I didn’t/couldn’t make a firm amendment to stop completely, but I did make an amendment to do better and to start eating a little more. Was this acceptable, or is this ‘cheating’? Did my poor amendment invalidate my confession? Can I go still to confession, or should I wait until I can really make a firm amendment?

Thank you ray:t3:

 

[Tis_Bearself]

If you have an eating disorder, this is a mental illness, not a sin, and you need to be discussing it with your mental health professional and your medical doctor, not with the priest. I would hope you are getting both medical and mental health treatment for your eating disorder, because such disorders can be life-threatening.

You should of course continue to go to confession. However, it’s not really helpful for you to take symptoms of your mental health disorder and start characterizing them as sins or fretting about having a “firm purpose of amendment” for them. A sin is committed by someone who has free will. If you’re mentally ill then you’re not acting with free will because of the illness.

I would suggest if you have further questions about this, discuss with your priest, if necessary outside of confession since it might require more than the 5 minute quick discussion one normally gets in there.

 

[Peeps]

I agree with Tis_Bearself.

Go back to your doctor and mental health counselors. They can help you.

 

[0Scarlett_nidiyilii]

Yes, see a doctor.
While there is a spiritual component to these behaviors, you need to get the physical/cognitive piece under control, and the priest isn’t trained in that.