Tag: Eating Disorders

The Diary Healer News More than a diagnosis: how finding my identity helped me find recovery

More than a diagnosis: how finding my identity helped me find recovery

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As a little girl, I was a wine glass, round and full of sweet red purple liquid. I didn’t know it was rotten until you put my rim to your lips and raised me into a champagne flute but you thinned me out too much and the liquid you lit...

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Eating Disorders Clarity on anorexia nervosa: from childhood through motherhood

Clarity on anorexia nervosa: from childhood through motherhood

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Jessica turned 38 years old on the day that her story was posted on The Diary Healer.  After reading her insightful account and seeing the photo of her carefully cradling her newborn child, flanked by her two daughters, I asked myself, “Is this the same person you treated for restrictive...

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Diaries a lens for eating disorder memoir

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From eating disorder shame to ‘an open book’  A silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic was the gift of time to embark on the incredible journey of writing my memoir. A project of this magnitude always seemed too daunting but as soon as I began pouring through my old diaries,...

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Eating Disorders Chatbot KIT is helping to improve body image one chat at a time

Chatbot KIT is helping to improve body image one chat at a time

Our next generation of young people are highly concerned about their body image. In fact, one in three 15-19-year-olds in Australia are “very” or “extremely concerned” (Tiller et al., 2020). Body image concerns are the major risk factor for the development of eating disorders (Culbert et al., 2015), which impact...

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Eating Disorders What not to say to someone with an eating disorder

What not to say to someone with an eating disorder

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“You are looking well today.” My aunt’s words became frozen in time. As a 13-year-old with anorexia nervosa, my brain sprang to high alert. Thoughts raged: “I’m fat. I look horrible. I must eat less.” Recovery roared in reverse. That incident happened decades ago, and I have forgiven my ignorant...

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The Diary Healer News Diary writing reveals eating disorder stigma and ignorance

Diary writing reveals eating disorder stigma and ignorance

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Too often, our words and behaviours become lost in translation and the eating disorder (ED) wins every time. Our diary provides a place to record our truth when no-one will listen. The Hidden Face of Anorexia  … This illness has cost me so much, for so long And I still...

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Eating Disorders Studying the impact of personality traits in people with eating disorders

Studying the impact of personality traits in people with eating disorders

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From a clinical and research perspective, Eating Disorders (EDs) are interesting, almost unique, in that despite not wanting to have an ED, many people continue to engage in behaviour that can be dangerous and even deadly. More concerning is that people with an ED can often have a poor prognosis,...

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Videos & Podcasts June speaks with Dr. Cynthia M. Bulik – Eating Disorders Genetics Initiative

June speaks with Dr. Cynthia M. Bulik – Eating Disorders Genetics Initiative

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June was delighted to join Dr. Cynthia M. Bulik, principal investigator for the Eating Disorders Genetics Initiative (EDGI), for a Facebook Live recently. June speaks about her story and experience of anorexia nervosa, and how diary writing can help people on their journey to peace and wellbeing.  EDGI Australia:...

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Eating Disorders Swapping one obsession for another- the dangers of obsessive exercise in recovery

Swapping one obsession for another- the dangers of obsessive exercise in recovery

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‘I swapped one form of control for another, exercise became my way to suppress emotions, to sculpt my body, it prevented me from reaching full recovery.’ If you scroll through social media, or read recovery stories about anorexia online, you might see a storyline like this: ‘I chose to recover,...

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Eating Disorders How research into eating disorders has changed my life

How research into eating disorders has changed my life

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One thing that springs to mind when I think of researchers and scientists is their love of a good acronym. As a woman in her thirties, two acronyms in particular hold a deep meaning for me: the Anorexia Nervosa Genetics Initiative (ANGI) and the Eating Disorders Genetics Initiative (EDGI). Anorexia...

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