How Stigma Keeps Us Sick
Stigma. It exists and it impacts all of us who are affected by mental illness. I’m sure this isn’t new information, but a reminder now and then about the dangers of stigma doesn’t hurt. Plus, I’m feeling rather irate after the week I’ve just had. As you might know from reading my last few posts, my battle against Blue Cross Blue Shield, thankfully, ended well. Ultimately, I got (mostly) what I needed: I was granted 10 more days in treatment. But it came at a cost. During my week without treatment, my eating disorder was constantly at my heels. In order to build my case...
Read MoreWhat Does Recovery Feel Like?
“Recovery often seemed to us like the Polaris: We saw that it existed, and we kept our eyes fixed on its steady light, but no matter how long we trekked through the dark, it seemed to never draw closer.” It wasn’t the first time this worry had come up. On the verge of tears, Eileen confessed in group therapy this weekend that she was beginning to doubt she would ever recover from her long history of an eating disorder. She had been assured over and over again that recovery takes time, but all she felt was defeated. Much like the eating disorder, recovery is both a gradual...
Read MoreAUDIO: The Online Evolution of Pro-Ana
“This is the story of one lonely young girl who used the Internet to get better at starving herself behind her family’s back, and the online moment that changed her course to recovery.” About a month ago, I posted about the “pro-ana” phenomenon (which, along with “pro-mia” refers to anything promotes eating disorders). Pro-ana groups are online communities that insist eating disorders are lifestyle choices, not deadly mental illnesses. Pro-ana moderators host discussion forums in which members openly discuss their eating disorder behaviors,...
Read MoreBDD and Eating Disorders: The Stranger in the Mirror
Have you ever wished your nose were smaller, or your hair were straighter, or your hips were narrower? Have those thoughts ever consumed your entire day? Have they ever kept you imprisoned in your own home? Feeling self-conscious about one’s physical appearance is not uncommon. But if it becomes a self-loathing so intense that it interferes with your daily life, it might be another beast altogether. Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a mental illness in which sufferers fixate on their flaws, whether these flaws are real or perceived. Body-centric, critical thoughts are intrusive, consuming,...
Read MoreDispelling Eating Disorder Stereotypes
White teenage female. Private school student in an upper middle-class suburb. Inveterate perfectionist. Anorexic. At age 14, I typified the so-called eating disorder stereotype. These illnesses have long been associated with middle- to upper-class young white women, even among the most sympathetic professionals. (Hilde Bruch, a pioneering eating disorder practitioner, said in her 1978 book The Golden Cage: The Enigma of Anorexia Nervosa that anorexia primarily affects girls raised in “privileged, even luxurious circumstances.”) Unfortunately, stereotypes still prevail, in part because eating...
Read MoreThinspiration: The Most Supportive Online Community You Never Want to Join
TRIGGER WARNING: If pro-ana and pro-mia sites and thinspiration were part of your eating disorder experience, then this post may be triggering for you. As always, there is no mention of calories, weights, overly specific behaviors, etc. Even so, simply reading about these sites could evoke distressing memories. Please be mindful. Just in case a genetic predisposition, a thin-obsessed culture, and any number of life stressors weren’t enough to potentially spark a life-threatening eating disorder, thinspiration can help ensure such fates. The Internet is a mixed bag when it comes to eating...
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