I receive many comments reminding me that my eating disorder experiences aren’t the experiences of others. And believe me – I understand.
Therein lies the problem for therapists, family and friends, and eating disordered patients themselves, too.
I’ve always been amazed at the variety of stories and “styles” of eating disorders. For instance, one person with bulimia may binge and purge once a day while another bulimic binges and purges many times in a 24 hour period. Those two people suffering from bulimia are going to require different. very personalized techniques to help them become healthy.
For me, anorexia was a lifestyle, but I was …read more

As I’ve discussed here before, I enjoy occasionally watching shows on addiction and intervention. And I always think to myself, “Am I an addict, too?”  (The answer, by the way, is “yes”.)
I think all of us who have difficulties with eating disorders are addicted in some way to some thing(s). But is there a way to turn an addictive personality into a good rather than negative aspect of one’s life?  I’m hoping so.
For instance, I truly believe that the “fuel” for my ED addiction was the need for control in my life. Like many teens, I felt alone and abandoned; …read more

After my last post on why parents ignore eating disorders in their children, I started to wonder about something similar — why do spouses or significant others do the same dance of “avoid the gorilla hiding under the carpet”? 
Again, I’ve given it some thought and here are my theories:
1.  They really don’t know that their partner is anorexic or bulimic.  Eating disordered individuals are very adept at covering up their illnesses, even from their most intimate friends and lovers.  And let’s face it — if a guy started dating a girl who was severely underweight, he might just assume that …read more

Two days ago, I asked Breaking the Mirror’s community to share their eating disorder stories with me.  One has arrived, and it’s an incredible tale of resilience, recovery and hope. 
My goal is to share this with as many people as possible, so please feel free to link up and ask your friends to drop by. 
Oh, and if you have your own Ana or Mia tale to tell, you can contact me at lemonpepr(at)aol(dot)com.  All letters will remain anonymous, though I’m giving pieces pseudonymous titles.
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Hope’s* Story
*pseudonym
I was fifteen when I began a journey that’s lasted a lifetime thus far.