Tag: hope

Anorexia very nearly stole my life. After 15 years in what can only be described as a living hell, I was told I had only a few weeks to live; my dear body couldn’t hold on any longer. I could feel myself slipping away; after more than a decade of...

Living a part-life with an eating disorder (ED) is like spending half your life in prison – without committing a crime. The picture that accompanies this story was taken the day my daughter celebrated her 21st birthday. I was 46 years old and an inpatient at a private mental health...

Sometimes, I dislike my body even though I consider myself in recovery from an eating disorder. If I were to wait until I felt at peace with every part of my body before calling myself recovered, recovery would never happen. I don’t say that to be pessimistic; I say that...

I was 15 when my father noticed money missing from his wallet. He asked if I had taken it. I said, “No.” However, after hours of being accused of taking drugs and screamed at to the point of having spit on my face and crawling into a ball in the...

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...

Whether or not to define ‘terminal anorexia nervosa’ is being vigorously debated in the eating disorders field. In an article published in the Journal of Eating Disorders, August 25, 2023 edition, Andrea Phillipou writes: Although I disagree with the terminology of ‘terminal AN’ and believe that establishing criteria has the...

Imagine writing a self-healing, feel-good book to document your goals and progress this year. What will your chapters comprise? Lotta, who has anorexia nervosa, writes: It is the time of the year when there is space to look on the traces of the last months. It may be the time...

Whatever mess we find ourselves in, hope is our most powerful get-well tool. When we experience illness or trauma, our recovery becomes a journey and a destination. Along the way, hope provides a lantern when shadows surround us. Our wellbeing aligns with recovery and this has many parts – our...

You could call it a case of accidental fate! That’s the best way I can describe how I stumbled across the name ‘June Alexander’ in an online search in 2018. I was having just another average day, my mind filled with an endless influx of eating disorder (ED) thoughts: “What...