Eating Disorders: Eating disorders are a class of mental illness in which irregular eating behaviors, most commonly associated with significant distress and distorted beliefs about body weight or shape, have a negative impact on one’s nutritional health and social functioning. For more comprehensive information on eating disorders, please click here.
The Non-Linear Nature of Eating Disorder Recovery
Erin Jamieson became “good” at counting calories, throwing herself headlong into her eating disorder and then, thankfully, into her eating disorder recovery.
Losing Her Saved Me: How I Healed From Trauma
This mental health recovery story focuses on Amanda’s journey with OCD, Anorexia, Complex PTSD, trauma and grooming. Amanda had to cut off her mother in order to heal. Read to learn more about how Amanda learned to ask for help and recover from trauma.
Overcoming My Teenage Traumas Allowed Me to Find Freedom in My Twenties
Julia Tannenbaum’s adolescence was taken from her by a series of teenage traumas and mental health challenges; but she is only looking forward as she thrives in her twenties.
[et_bloom_inline optin_id=optin_16]
All The Colors Of Me Only Some Will See: Relearning to Love Your Body After a Trauma
Anne Marie Malloy had trouble loving who she saw in the mirror after facing childhood trauma, so she’s reclaimed control over self-identity with piercings, Doc Martens, and a rebellious attitude to match.
Done Running: a Budding Pharmacist Confronts Her Eating Disorder & Sexuality
Jules Aukerman, a budding pharmacist, confronts her sexuality and her eating disorder in this genuine, compassionate essay.
Sanguine: Attempting to Control Everything through Disordered Eating
Kate’s eating disorder started with a desire to control her body and quickly spiraled into something else, learning to reconnect to her body, Kate found her way to healing.
When Disabled Womanhood Means Shrinking: How Diet Culture Affects the Bodies and Minds of Disabled Women
In middle school, Erica began to notice her weight and developed disordered thinking about her body in an attempt to control it. Through recovery, Erica learned that her need to control her body was in part to make her disability less noticeable to others.
Not All a Child Needs: Overcoming Suicidality and Depression in Pakistan
Hira Raza shares how culture and parental pressure can impact a child’s mental health, leading to an eating disorder and depression in Pakistan.
A Boy In Progress: Surviving My Eating Disorder
Eli Parker spent his adolescence hiding his trans-identity from his friends and family, and took control of his life where he could, his diet.
Bulimia: Look into Her Greedy Eyes and Destroy Her!
Sonia’s intrusive thoughts about her body controlled her behavior; how Sonia regained control of her life through identifying her disorder and finding help.
Knowing Your Limits: Where Anxiety and Eating Intersect
Eating and anxiety share the same spot in Rachel Nelson’s brain. After a life filled with crash diets and, Rachel’s recovering.
Where Do Compulsive Exercise and Disordered Eating Lead?
When you are battling an eating disorder, decisions like stand or sit, one cookie or two, are not just benign choices. Emily Kelsall takes us into the world and brain of a woman living struggling with disordered eating and compulsive exercise.
Fighting My Eating Disorder Like a Warrior; Brave and Also Very Scared
Rachel Sellers does battle with anorexia, one of the most deadly mental health challenges, like a warrior: brave and also very scared.
An Outsider in My Own Skin; a Transgender Mental Health Story
by Have you ever felt like an outsider in your own skin? As if the body you’re stuck with isn’t really something you own, but something you’ve picked up for the time being; like the shell of a hermit crab. Have you ever...
Wrestling with Depression
In addition to wrestling some of the most noted sumo wrestlers in the world, Mike Wietecha is also well-versed in wrestling depression.
Manic MFA: How My Degree Almost Cost Me My Sanity
Trying to manage bipolar disorder and a MFA program, she was influenced by mania, anxiety dictated the pace of her life, and her marriage was in danger.
An Average Anorexia Story (Serious, there is no big surprise or plot twist)
As her body changed, Amanda lost track of who she was. Slowly, through recovery from anorexia, Amanda found a way to reconnect to herself and to her body.
Taking Up Space; Living in and Loving My Changing Body
Dancer Morgan Rondinelli wrestles with her weight gain and its impact on her mental health challenges.
Eating Disorder Healing and Changing Our Narratives Around Them
This mental health recovery story focuses on Ziba’s journey through an eating disorder, that often felt invisible. Ziba felt unseen in her disordered habits around eating and misunderstood when she first shared that she made herself sick to doctors. As she learned more about her disease and found help herself, Ziba worked to dismantle stereotypes and bust stigma. Through therapy and group work Ziba was able to understand her disorder and reconnect to herself. Read more!
What it Feels Like to be Passively Suicidal and Not Want to Die
The passive suicidal thoughts are still there, but I have started to recognize that they are only powerful if I give them the power.
The Big Scare: My Anxiety Disorder Story
A therapist writes with humor and passion about her struggles with panic attacks, generalized anxiety disorder, and an eating disorder.
Book Review: An Urgent, Bold Voice Emerges from the “Manic Kingdom”
Dr. Erin K. Stair’s new book, Manic Kingdom, is a “harrowing, breathless, and beautiful journey” that will leave you spellbound.
Dancing Through Mental Illness with an Eating Disorder
My eating disorder lied, denying any inquiry that there was something wrong. After residential treatment I did outpatient with a dance movement therapist.
Everything Will Kill You: Anxiety, Fear & Shame Onstage
I wrote a song called “Everything Will Kill You” inspired by all the times that I’ve fearfully prepared myself for tragedies that have never actually happened.
My Body, My Eating Disorder, My Recovery
In my eating disorder, I loved to push myself, to bring my body to the edge and watch which way it fell. More liquor, more dancing, more starving.