Author Archive

My first diary was a Christmas gift in 1962, the same year I developed anorexia nervosa. I was 11 years old. The diary and I bonded immediately and diary-writing has been part of my life every day since. The entry..

Dr Richard Kreipe and a former patient Audry Mattle collaborate in this article to give hope to others who may have experienced a resurfacing or amplification of eating disorder thinking patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you, Dr Kreipe and..

How are you coping with your eating disorder (ED) during the COVID-19 pandemic? Even if, like me, you have been in recovery or recovered from the illness for some years, the social and physical isolation restrictions enforced by our health..

Our world is facing a health challenge unprecedented in most of our lifetimes. COVID-19, which developed late last year in China, is now reaching all corners of the world with far reaching impact, and scientists and researchers are scrambling to..

Eating disorders don’t only affect children and teenagers. They affect people across their lifespan. If you are an adult experiencing eating disorder symptoms, the good news is that recovery is possible. For 44 years, from age 11 to 55, an..

Trauma comes in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes the cause is visible and sometimes it is not. The bushfires blazing over much of eastern Australia, including my beloved childhood region of East Gippsland, are sparking trauma for many people. The..

I think it’s time my past was made public. I’ve always felt ashamed of it, I suppose, though I realize now I shouldn’t feel this way. I haven’t done anything wrong; I’ve just had an illness. From my memoir A..

Dear Friends, As we ‘mature’ the years seem to go faster, and time becomes more precious. Not knowing how much time we have we want to use it in the most meaningful way possible. I hope 2019 has been all..

Recognition is growing that answers for successful treatments for eating disorders are found through listening to patients and their families. Therefore, I hasten to provide details of two research projects at Flinders University, Australia, which offer fresh opportunity for people..

Today, I pushed another hole in the prison wall that an eating disorder erected in my brain at age 11. That wall effectively disconnected my healthy self from my body until I was 55. Thirteen years on, eating three meals..