Eating · Cognitive
Cognitive Flexibility (CRT-Inspired)
Set-shifting and big-picture drills — the substrate every other intervention needs
Cognitive Remediation Therapy for AN targets the rigid, detail-focused thinking style research consistently finds in restrictive eating disorders. This page runs a few flexibility drills and translates them to daily situations — the point isn't the puzzle, it's noticing rigidity and deliberately widening it.
Flexibility drills (do daily for a week)
- Describe today from a bird's-eye view in 2 sentences, then from a detail view in 2 sentences
- List 5 uses for an everyday object you'd never use it for
- Take a different route home; notice what you missed on your usual one
- Change one small routine (order of morning, hand you brush teeth with)
- Summarize a long text in 1 sentence, then a short one in a paragraph
Where rigidity shows up in my life
Area
Rigid pattern
One small flex I could try
Big-picture vs detail — which do I default to?
What flexibility would make possible in my life
Flexibility is a treatable skill
CRT doesn't try to fix the ED directly. It builds the cognitive substrate every other intervention needs — the ability to shift set, see the whole, and update the rule when the situation changes.