Here you can find articles that may answer your questions and support you in your personal recovery work.
You'll also find a series of inspirations and affirmation that may help you stay on your healing path. Please remember, helping yourself does not mean going it alone. Helping yourself means discovering what what you can do to support your own recovery. That includes how to recognize opportunity and reach out to people as well as books, websites and classes, who are in a position to offer you genuine recovery help on your journey to healing.
What do you mean, coping mechanism?
PTC wrote this comment on my blog:
Everyone always says the ED is a coping mechanism, but I don’t feel like there’s anything that I can’t cope with or that I haven’t been able to cope with. I don’t really know what I’m trying to say. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t feel like I restrict, workout, weigh myself to deal with something, I feel like it’s just something that I do. Again, I’m not explaining myself too well here so I’ll just stop writing.
When you live with an eating disorder, you block knowledge and self awareness you don’t know you have. When you think you are not explaining yourself well what is happening is that you can’t articulate some kind of knowing. Your conscious mind doesn’t have access to your unconscious mind.
When does bulimia start?
Reader's question: when does bulimia start? - This is a challenging question that I've broadened to include all eating disorders. It's challenging because what is happening and what we know are not the same. The consensus in the 80's was that eating disorders were a teen age phenomenon, with symptoms appearing when a person was around 13 years. But now we see eating disorder symptoms appearing in children as young as nine. I receive questions and stories from women in their 50's, 60's and 70's who suffer from eating disorders. In my practice I see people whose full blown symptoms didn't appear until they were in their 20's or even older.
How women with eating disorders surrender their power to exploiters
Often women with eating disorders feel generous and powerful in their relationships and at the same time feel weak, exploited, bewildered and afraid they will be abandoned.
This all too common situation and results in familiar eating disorder stories If this is you, then you are harsh in your self-criticism.
Unable to use your gifts to enhance your own life.
What a Healthy Relationship with Food Looks Like - a lesson from children
Two little girls, sisters, 5 and 7 years old, were spending the afternoon with me in my home. We are great friends.
We had been painting in my studio and running in the grass counting Buddhas (I have a lot of Buddhas in my garden).
Suddenly the five year old announced, "I'm hungry!"
The more demure seven year old gave her sister a look that said, not so loud and impolite, please while she looked at me and nodded, "Me, too."
I said, "Well, let's go look in the refrigerator and see what I've got."
Recovery at 57: Overcoming Anorexia Triggers
Here is a moving post and inspiring post from a courageous and loving woman who describes a powerful moment in her eating disorder recovery. She gave me permission to share her words with you. I’ve changed her name to Laurel for reasons of privacy.
