Category: Issues

advocacy From blog to belonging: the next chapter for Life Stories Diary

From blog to belonging: the next chapter for Life Stories Diary

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Curating almost 900 posts into themed e-books you can keep close If you’ve been with me a while—some of you since 2008—you know Life Stories Diary has grown into a gathering place: for people living with eating disorders, for families and health professionals, for life story writing, and for anyone...

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advocacy Lived experience must lead change: eating disorders, systemic silence, and a layperson’s resolve

Lived experience must lead change: eating disorders, systemic silence, and a layperson’s resolve

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Professor Kim’s reply had arrived in my inbox the previous evening, but I couldn’t bring myself to open it right away. When I opened it the next morning at my desk, I felt relieved. Prof. Kim wrote: It feels like [the eating disorders field is] several decades behind compared to...

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advocacy Comorbidities and eating disorders

Comorbidities and eating disorders

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Improving eating disorder care for underserved groups In the fourth post that June Alexander has adapted from Alykhan Asaria’s article on improving eating disorder care for underserved groups, three more underserved groups are discussed – people with comorbidities, neurodiverse people, and digitally excluded people. People with comorbidities Some people have comorbidities...

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advocacy Males with eating disorders and caregivers need recognition and support too

Males with eating disorders and caregivers need recognition and support too

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This sixth and final post that June Alexander has adapted from Alykhan Asaria’s article on improving eating disorder care for underserved groups, discusses two more underserved groups – a) males and b) caregivers and loved ones – together with the conclusion. Males Male eating disorder sufferers are underserved due to their...

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advocacy Becoming an Overcomer

Becoming an Overcomer

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I was born on January 1, 1968, with my feet turned backwards—a physical reminder of a drug that changed the course of thousands of lives. That drug was thalidomide. Thalidomide was introduced in the 1950s and early 1960s to help pregnant women with morning sickness. It was affordable, available without...

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advocacy My Kid is Back!

My Kid is Back!

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With my co-author, Professor Daniel Le Grange, I’m delighted to announce the worldwide release of My Kid is Back, Second Edition. We thank families from Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand for contributing to this new book’s powerful message about Family-Based Treatment (FBT), the most effective...

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advocacy Imagine a Global Board for eating disorders

Imagine a Global Board for eating disorders

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Imagine a Global Board that listens to “everyone” in the eating disorder field. What a difference it could make to lives everywhere! The vision for a Global Board comes from the indefatigable Elissa Myers, former chief staff executive of the Academy for Eating Disorders (AED). Under Elissa’s proposed model, a...

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advocacy Bringing together Korea’s eating disorder researchers

Bringing together Korea’s eating disorder researchers

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As the sole host of Korea’s Eating Disorders Awareness Week (EDAW), I am researching the themes and issues to be covered in the seven sessions of our third event in February 2025. To fully understand and engage with these topics, I immerse myself deeply, processing them, formulating insightful questions to...

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advocacy Being a loser at weight loss makes you a winner – or does it?

Being a loser at weight loss makes you a winner – or does it?

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Nobody likes being told, “You’re a loser.” The word “loser” immediately conjures up feelings of inadequacy, failure, and shame. The only place I can think of where “a loser” is considered noble and revered is in diet culture and the weight loss industry, where “loss” is even in the name....

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advocacy Eating disorders are no match for memoirist Betsy Brenner

Eating disorders are no match for memoirist Betsy Brenner

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A silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020-2021, was the gift of time to embark on the incredible journey of writing my memoir The Longest Match: Rallying to Defeat an Eating Disorder in Midlife. A project of this magnitude always seemed daunting but as soon as I began pouring through...

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