TABLE 3.

Positive consequences of the COVID‐19 pandemic reported by patients with anorexia nervosa

Theme	Example quote
Reduction in overall eating disorder symptoms/Taking on responsibility to recover	“Funnily enough, because I can't expect much help from outside at the moment, I got my ED under control quite well.”
Reduction in specific eating disorder symptoms	“I voluntarily went into quarantine at home for 2 weeks to stop my excessive exercise behavior.”
More flexibility regarding meals and foods	“New resolutions: Snacking twice a week late in the evening, eating difficult foods four times a week, always trying my friend's food if he offers it to me.”
“Wake‐up call”/Will to live	“The threat from the virus woke me up. Because anorexia and pneumonia just do not get along so well. For me personally, this pandemic opened my eyes in a way and showed me that I want to live.”
Trying out therapy content	“A lot of time to rethink, rework and try out content of therapy sessions.”
Accepting uncertainty in life	“I understand even better that life cannot be planned. At the beginning of the pandemic, I was very concerned about what to do with all the free time, but it was incredibly good for me to learn how to deal with this uncertainty, not knowing what the new day will bring…I was able to learn to pay attention to my feelings, to accept that there are good and bad days and, above all, to learn to simply live in the day and spontaneously decide what I want and how I want to organize this day.”