Tag: recovery

I knew before the doctor spoke, but that didn’t stop the fear coursing through my body that was curled in a ball on the blanket-laden hospital bed. “Oh ‘shoot’,” I said through tears. “Yes,” he said. I knew this diagnosis was “not good,” but I didn’t realize having Anorexia Nervosa...

My first diary was a Christmas gift in 1962, the same year I developed anorexia nervosa. I was 11 years old. The diary and I bonded immediately and diary-writing has been part of my life every day since. The entry for January 1, 1963, is crammed with details of food...

Eating disorders don’t only affect children and teenagers. They affect people across their lifespan. If you are an adult experiencing eating disorder symptoms, the good news is that recovery is possible. For 44 years, from age 11 to 55, an eating disorder locked me in a cell in my mind....

People who recover from an eating disorder represent a great repository of untapped potential in helping others to heal from this complex illness. This Friday, August 23, together with Olivia Soho and Carly Harris, I will present a workshop that explores peer support and mentoring as an innovative approach in...

By June Alexander Increasingly, stories have a role in science. For instance scientific eating conferences are becoming a sounding board for stories of recovery and ongoing healing. This month I attended the 26thinternational conference on eating disorders, convened by the Academy for Eating Disorders(AED). This year, more than 1400 registrations...

Did my recovery experience have to be so tortuous? Could the diary have provided a more pro-active role in healing? I wanted to find out. Above all, the catalyst for my book The Diary Healer was a desire to explore and reveal the potential of diary writing as a therapeutic tool in self-renewal...