Happy New Year!
Wishing all of you the most rejuvenating of holidays and a happy, healthy New Year. Here’s to a great 2015. And to recovery. Much love, Joanna Share this:Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new...
Read MorePost-“Denied”: Keep the Pressure on Insurance Companies
Insurance Coverage: Benefit or Barrier? Dear Friends, I’m writing on behalf of the women, men, and children I met this year while in treatment for an eating disorder, and I’m asking for your help. Many of those I met have been suffering from their illnesses for years—but not necessarily because of the illness’s severity. Rather, their eating disorders have been dragged out because their insurance providers consistently cut off treatment prematurely, even against clinician advice. Time and again, these patients leave treatment or (if they’re lucky) are moved to lower...
Read MoreAnthem, Mental Health’s Public Enemy No. 1, Called Out in “Denied”
On Sunday, 60 Minutes ran a segment called “Denied” that investigated the routine practice of insurance companies to deny mentally ill patients the treatment their doctors prescribe. Since the segment premiered, multiple people have alerted me to the video or sent me links directly, as it is no secret by now that I am one of the thousands who have been and continue to be negatively impacted by insurance providers. The clip was hard to watch. It opened with the story of Katherine West, who died at age 15 of bulimia (which caused heart failure) after being cut from her residential...
Read MoreOne Year in Recovery
Today marks one year since I left work and began treatment for my eating disorder. I was so in the dark when it all began. I had been told that patients usually stay in partial hospitalization treatment (the level at which I started) for four to six weeks, and I remember marveling that in just a few weeks I might be rid of this thing that had plagued me for more than a decade. Eleven months later, when I finally did leave treatment, it was quite apparent that I’d had no idea what I was walking into on Dec. 11, 2013. I didn’t know that after seven-and-a-half weeks in PHP I would...
Read MoreSocial Media and the Path to Recovery
The Internet and social media have played a complicated role in my eating disorder. In the depths of my illness, I used to scour the web to learn how to become a “better” anorexic. I wanted—I needed—to lose weight, and the Internet, with its a fund of information and hidden pro-eating disorder communities, seemed to be the answer. One day, however, I chanced upon the National Eating Disorders Association website and found myself drawn to the recovery stories. These women and men struggled with food just like I did—and yet their lives no longer pivoted around restrictive food...
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I'm a writer, a mental health activist, and a 20-something in recovery from an eating disorder. This blog chronicles my journey through the middle ground toward full recovery.
