It requires us to shut down our connection with the direct feedback from our bodies, our biocomputers. The false self – eating disorder – becomes one’s identity.Ĭope continues, “The false self, though initially an effective adaptive strategy, can eventually become a learning disability. Amidst the false self’s obsession, the other wolf is forgotten. The wolf is “fed” through eating disorder behaviors but it’s never enough. The wolf of this false self has an insatiable hunger, which binge eating cannot satisfy, nor starvation deny. Our need for soothing and confirmation from external sources will be chronic and insatiable.” 1Įating disorders are an example of this false self, obsessively seeking to self-soothe. Psychotherapist Stephen Cope explains, “The false self is born when the environment does not welcome the self to be as it is… When we are separated from our capacity to be with life the way it is, especially in our early development, our capacity to self-soothe is severely impaired. The false self is “born” in an attempt to compensate for inadequate nurturing and is “fed” by adhering to other people’s opinions and demands. The true self is the original sense of self at the time of birth, which continues to be “fed” throughout healthy development. Winnicott, is credited with coining these terms in the 1960s. The wolves could also be considered “selves” – one “false self” and the other, “true self.” Well-known psychoanalyst, D.W. The legend states both wolves are within each of us, and the wolf that wins the fight is the one we feed. One wolf is evil and the other wolf is good.

You may have heard the Cherokee story about two wolves who are fighting. Hungry Wolves: False Self and True Self in Eating Disorder Recoveryīy Dorie McCubbrey, PhD, MSEd, LPC, LAC, CEDS

I am a shadow the true self