‘Gaining weight in my life is giving me life’ By Karyn Braveheart Gaining weight is something l have struggled to do for a very long time. Now, after a lot of hard work and many hospital admissions, I am experiencing the positives in gaining weight. For sure, my everyday fear remains of clothing not fitting […]
Dear Diary
Beware of the challenges of the Internet for adults with eating disorders
by June Alexander Forty years ago I told a GP that I feared something was taking over my mind. “You have a flat battery, that’s all,” declared the doctor. “We’ll pop you on medication and you will soon be as good as new.” If only breaking free from an eating disorder was that easy. We […]
The home that really matters is the one I carry within
by June Alexander Feeling at home with self is the most important thing. Feeling this way enables us to feel at home anywhere. Wherever I am these days, I feel at home. For many years, however, feeling “settled” was impossible. I moved house more than 20 times. Eventually, I learned through self-healing that the home […]
Send in the SWAT team and put me in witness protection
A mother’s plea to be Safe With Accessible Treatment for her eating disorder By Sarah The growing recognition of the need for support for caregivers of people with an eating disorder is welcome, but one group is falling through the cracks. Adults living with an eating disorder often need to be their own caregivers. They […]
Is food the problem? How to support someone with Binge Eating Disorder (BED)
by Chanty Weedon Understanding how to support someone with Binge Eating Disorder (BED) when you have no experience can be challenging. This is the first hurdle that my family faced even before my diagnosis. They did not know what to do or say to help. I was very private about my BED and, even though […]
“I’m sorry you’re going through that, but you know you’re not alone?”
Regaining healthy relationships from an eating disorder by June Alexander An eating disorder is about more than our relationship with food. When food increasingly dominates our thinking, our relationship with self and with others can disconnect and disintegrate at an alarming rate. Confidence and belonging give way to shame, stigma, fear and rejection. Openness gives […]
“Aunt June, you are the problem in our family:” Using the journal to dispel stigma, inside and out
by June Alexander Engaging in the world beyond an eating disorder (ED) means facing up to things like stigma. The perception or inference by others that ED, or any other mental health challenge, is a personal weakness can be demoralizing and destructive. In this post, drawn from my book, The Diary Healer, diarists discuss how […]
How diary excerpts became the voice in a book about eating disorders
By June Alexander Excerpts shared by 70 diarists for my book, Using Writing as a Therapy for Eating Disorders—The Diary Healer, told compelling stories of struggle and courage. Each of the diarists, like myself, had experienced an eating disorder. My challenge was to locate leads within the stories, and combine them, through paraphrasing and selected […]
Securing trust when writing a non-fiction story – feeling safe enough to share innermost thoughts and feelings
By June Alexander Securing of trust is essential when recovering from an eating disorder, and likewise it is essential when we are writing stories about the illness. Today I will describe the ways in which trust was integral to the writing of my book Using Writing as a Therapy for Eating Disorders – The Diary […]
Mapping the tides of our life through story-telling
By June Alexander Life-writing is simply telling a story from our life. Sounds simple, but depending on how deep we dare to plunge into our past, the process can spark a ripple effect that turn into tidal waves of emotion. When we write even a brief account of something we have experienced, for instance a […]