Dear Diary Blog
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The Diary Healer offers a safe and supportive environment in which to share your story. Sharing your story can help you to develop a sense of belonging and connectedness with self and others. Stories that provide a message of hope in coping with life challenges are especially welcome. Share your story today.
Lived experience inspires Korea’s first Eating Disorders Awareness Week
Lived experience will feature in Korea’s first Eating Disorders Awareness Week (EDAW), for which I’m responsible. I’ve often been told not to scale up things so hastily, not to put too many irons in the fire, but such cautions seem..
If only … a letter to younger self about dieting and an eating disorder
Dear Friend, I’ve been wanting to write this letter for a long time, to explain how an eating disorder (ED) managed to weave itself through all my life stages, without me realizing it. That’s one of the most disturbing things..
Using writing to assist healing from an eating disorder
Imagine writing a self-healing, feel-good book to document your goals and progress this year. What will your chapters comprise? Lotta, who has anorexia nervosa, writes: It is the time of the year when there is space to look on the..
Public survey invites Australians to contribute to national eating disorder strategy
People from across Australia are being invited to complete a public survey that will help ensure broad input into a National Eating Disorders Strategy 2023-2033. Responses to the public survey, organised by the National Eating Disorders Collaboration (NEDC), will help..
The benefits of exploring identity through diary writing practice
I am like a dinosaur when it comes to diary writing. I have kept a diary since childhood. I’m now 72. The diary is part of me. Why? Early this week I was conversing with daughter Amanda, 46, about my..
An epiphany at 72 – it is never too late to be fully you
My birthdays have often been a non-event. However, an epiphany has marked my latest milestone. Yesterday, surrounded by five grandchildren and their parents lustily singing Happy Birthday, I felt overwhelmed by a sudden, deeper freedom to experience the moment. I..
Eating Disorders as Metaphors – it’s time for change
It’s time to change our perspectives so we can think about eating disorders more clearly. That is, it’s time to move away from current interpretations of eating disorders that are largely contaminated with “metaphors”. I am not referring to the..
Parenting with an eating disorder
I am a mom with an eating disorder. Those were once difficult words for me to say out loud. There is a myth that anorexia nervosa (AN) is only an adolescent disorder. The truth is, 13 per cent of American..
Aging and Eating Disorders – recovery is worthwhile at every age
For 55 of my 67 years, I have struggled with an eating disorder, namely anorexia nervosa. I wasn’t formally diagnosed until age 65, about which I can only say, “Better late than never.” Because I didn’t shrink my body enough..
Sometimes a metaphor can aid recovery
There’s nothing easy about recovery. Challenges come up every day. Skills develop over time. Insights are often slow and murky. As a therapist who specialized in the treatment of individuals diagnosed with eating disorders, I learned that people find their..