Tag: eating disorder advocacy

When I reached 55, after 44 years under the iron grip of anorexia nervosa, something inside me shifted. For the first time, I felt emphatically that I had crossed the threshold to a “51 per cent healthy self.” That moment wasn’t a magic cure—it was the hard-won payoff of decades...

A recent article published on this blog (Imagine a Global Board for Eating Disorders) proposed an international governing body that would bring together experts, voices from lived experience, advocates, and industry leaders to tackle the complexities of eating disorders. That vision is no longer an idea. It’s a reality. To...

Improved outcomes for adults with eating disorders are possible! Karen, Tanya and Anne could be forgiven for feeling down-hearted after struggling for decades with Severe and Enduring Anorexia Nervosa (SEAN). However, they live in HOPE. This article is a collaboration by three Australian women in their fifties. Between them, they...

So, I quit my job again at the end of January. The healthcare company I worked for was one of those doctor-owned ventures not uncommon in Seoul, South Korea, where medical doctors generally belong to the highest income groups and are probably the most exclusive interest group. In a misogynistic...

An amazing depth of connection, awareness and self-discovery has evolved and blossomed through The Diary Healer blog since 2012. More than 500 first-person stories have been shared on the blog during this time. The archive of Diary Healer blogs has grown into a rich resource for anyone seeking information about...

I never thought that at 16 years old I would forget who I was. I want to emphasize the word ‘forget’ because I did not choose to transform into someone I could not recognize. I did not choose to have my brain so thickly clouded that I could not remember...

Korea’s first Eating Disorder Awareness Week (EDAW) has exposed the serious issue of eating disorders within families and communities. The hard schedule of seven consecutive days to mark this EDAW concluded in front of a small audience in a dimly lit bookshop. People stood and applauded, and the engineer stopped...

It’s time to change our perspectives so we can think about eating disorders more clearly.  That is, it’s time to move away from current interpretations of eating disorders that are largely contaminated with “metaphors”. I am not referring to the therapeutic metaphors discussed in this article on The Diary Healer....

For years I said, ‘I won’t know who I am, without my eating disorder.’ I was fearful of recovery because the eating disorder dominated my identity. If you feel this same way, I’ve good news. I recovered from anorexia nervosa 17 years ago, but the illness has been allowed to...

Often, during recovery, I never wanted to hear the term “eating disorder” again. Why then, have I embraced the term and become involved in eating disorder advocacy? Why not shut out the eating disorder experience and pretend the big gap that the illness ate in my life never happened? Maybe...