Archive for the ‘Recovery Journey’ Category
The evolution of a diary into a self-healer
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..
Keep Quiet and Carry On: Life with PCOS
Eating disorder symptoms can vary, and sometimes they can be symptoms of other illnesses – read Min Dean’s courageous story… It’s 1995 and 14-year-old me cannot take the acne anymore. I’ve tried all the usual teenage skincare routines, but nothing’s..
Call for compassionate care in treating eating disorders
By Juliana Winik When I was 14, I was admitted to the paediatric ward at our local hospital with the eating disorder, Anorexia Nervosa. My body had begun shutting down. My physical decline from well to severely ill happened rapidly...
How diary writing helped me to survive and heal from an eating disorder
“When I was 11 years old, I developed anorexia nervosa. The same year, I received a diary as a Christmas gift.” A gift of a diary, in the same year I developed anorexia nervosa at age 11, became..
It’s time to talk about — why I love my diary
Dear Diary welcomes entries from diarists everywhere. This week, guest diarist Yasemin Merwende shares her love of journal writing in relation to National Eating Disorder Awareness Week. “Journal writing is a voyage to the interior.” ― Christina Baldwin My first diary..
Never under-estimate the story-telling power of a French fry
Sharing our stories can assist self-validation in surprising and enriching ways. The unlikely hero in this story is a French fry. Diarist friend Karyn was out shopping, browsing in various stores, when a little bird on a small, white wooden..
Getting You Back
When our true self is suppressed – for whatever reason – diary-writing skills can assist in reintegrating our mind and body as one. Such a process supports the transitioning of self-harming thoughts and behaviors to self-loving thoughts and behaviors, and..
Exploring the narrative: poetry
Expressing these things in poetry has brought out the self I really am, apart from ED. My poetry has grown and changed as I have. It has helped me to realize I am not useless and that realization has assisted..
Did my recovery experience have to be so tortuous? Could the diary help?
Did my recovery experience have to be so tortuous? Could the diary have provided a more pro-active role in healing? I wanted to find out. Above all, the catalyst for my book The Diary Healer was a desire to explore and reveal the..
An Enduring Relationship: the Patient and the Therapist Who Does Not Give Up
I was thirty-two, suicidal, and trapped in a self-destruction spiral when I met the psychiatrist who would save my life. I had developed anorexia nervosa at age eleven and the illness was embedded in my brain. ‘Prof’, as I called..