Tag: mental health

Eating disorders (ED) are one of the deadliest mental illnesses that continue to be severely underestimated and under resourced. Too often, people living with an eating disorder continue to be brushed aside. Since my discharge from The Geelong Clinic in 2019, I’ve struggled to find my way along an unfamiliar...

What would you say if you learned a chronic illness was spreading silently through the population, affecting some of the country’s best and brightest people? Hospital beds are scarce, waiting lists are growing longer, and people are getting sicker. Some people are dying while they wait. Would you consider this...

Ask me no questions, I will tell you no lies. I am honest, trustworthy, loyal and fair. However, a part of me lurks in the shadows. A part of me that I try not to release and remain terrified that if seen will expose the ugliness within. This part of...

We crave to be loved, to be connected to our family and to feel at peace at home. When an eating disorder (ED) separates our mind from our body, “home” is no longer comfortable, and the disconnection drives us to meet our needs elsewhere. But this is never enough. By...

Fairy tales, like poetry, are an art form that can enable the expression of repressed feelings. A revelation in sourcing diary excerpts for The Diary Healer was the popularity of poetry as a form of narrative expression in the recovery process. Fairy tales, through the creative use of metaphors, also...

“Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength.”  Sigmund Freud A series of events inspired me to write A Dangerous Daughter. Firstly, in 2015, I was invited to take part in an international study on eating disorders, the Anorexia Nervosa Genetics Initiative. The results of the study were ground-breaking: scientists...

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...

“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...

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...