Tag: Eating Disorder

In learning to recognise my needs and have them met, I’ve also learnt more about emotions and their role in my life. A decade ago, when I was about 40 years old, a four-year-old asked why I was so fat. It was one of those moments when something shifted. If...

My first pregnancy was going beautifully…until it wasn’t. We were doing things in the traditional order: we married, bought our first house and, after nearly a year of trying, were expecting our first child. I was ecstatic. I had always looked forward to being a mother. After years of praying...

Hi Grandma, How’s your Darwin trip so far? This message from granddaughter Olivia, 13, comes when I’m in the Top End, Australia’s Northern Territory, about 4000kms from home in country Victoria. Olivia was born just prior to my memoir being published (see letter to Olivia in A Girl Called Tim)...

My eating disorder (ED) stipulated that isolating myself was essential for survival. I had no capacity left in my mind or body to function as me. Until I could master self-compassion and self-care, any progress would be skin deep. To trust myself and become part of my treatment team required connection with...

For 55 of my 67 years, I have struggled with an eating disorder, namely anorexia nervosa. I wasn’t formally diagnosed until age 65, about which I can only say, “Better late than never.” Because I didn’t shrink my body enough to cause alarm, I was able to fly under the...

A client recently reflected that her confidence in her ability to recover has come from the trust she places in her treating team. And that before we collaboratively created a supportive, multidisciplinary treating team for her, she wasn’t sure she was capable of recovery. That made a lot of sense...

I stand at the kitchen bench and look at the dishes to wash. I see the shopping list out of the corner of my eye. I know that piles of washing are waiting to be folded. Instead of starting to do any of these mundane yet necessary tasks, I turn...

Sarah’s fears are so intense that she rarely leaves her bedroom. Can you relate to this? My experience is that suppressing fears never helps. We need to look them in the eye (in the mirror), deal with them, and keep going. This is how we empower ourselves and grow stronger....

“Recovery” is a treacherous word that is spoken about freely by people who have admitted they live with an addiction. From drugs to alcohol, eating disorders, workaholism, depression, anxiety, control, overthinking, self-harm or perfectionism, none of us are perfect yet many of us find a way to hold our pain...

Do you think you can tell a person has an eating disorder just by their appearance? Do you think a person with an eating disorder looks a certain way? Do you think they are either very fat or very thin, depending on the type of eating disorder? Wrong, wrong, wrong....