Inherited Hunger: Eating Disorders, Legacy Burdens, and Internal Family Systems Therapy

We understand legacy burdens as emotional, relational, and cultural debts carried by parts of the system that were simply trying to survive. Eating disorder behaviours often emerge as protectors, following these old rules to avoid pain, rejection, or perceived danger.

When we meet these parts with curiosity instead of control, and when we begin to name the inherited messages they carry, the system can begin to breathe. We don’t force healing; we make space for it.

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