Needing a mentor
Lately I’ve been thinking about the makeup of intense treatment communities and the importance of mentoring. not just mentoring by psychologists / dietitians (although that’s most important), but mentoring from other patients… both during treatment and after discharge. this leads me to divide an ED community (and I assume rehabs?) into several patient populations: Mentors...
Reasons to recover
When I was in treatment, I took it upon myself to create a list of reasons to recover. I have one list which is composed by ideas from other patients, and another of ideas that I created myself. I should probably post them somewhere I can always see them, or keep them in my pocket...
Partial Recovery = Partial Life
From an episode of Glee: Emma: You know how we’re always talking about moving towards marriage, and nothing really ever happens. I mean, Sue said I should be all liberated and ask you to marry me. Um, do you want to be with me? I mean as your wife? Will: Of course I do. Emma:...
Treatment losses
I recently left a treatment facility (hence the extreme lack of p;osts), and experienced one of the most frustrating things — I felt like I was losing everything, even though logically I knew that I was gaining the rest of my life. Losses: Good friendships with other patients Meaningful relationships with my treatment team and...
4 ways to lie
Some interesting thoughts on truth vs. lies from two of my favorite philosophers — Mark Twain and Gregory House. “If you tell the truth, you don’t need to remember anything.” – Mark Twain “I don’t ask why patients lie, I just assume they all do.” “It’s a basic truth of the human condition that everybody...
My therapist, in the group room, with a candlestick
Recently, my therapist started leading a group that I'm in. Most people who've done any kind of intense treatment (inpatient, residential, partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient, etc), have probably had this experience (myself included) but it's pretty rare that my therapist now either facilitates or...
Slippery Slopes
I’m a sucker for lists… especially top-10 lists. So, when I saw a post on the Top 10 Cracks That Addicts Fall Through on Their Way to Recovery, it had my name all over it. I think that a lot of the same principles that Mark Goulston points out can apply to mental illness in...
What immediate relief?
I’ve recently started watching Grey’s Anatomy again. I got behind (really behind) and always thought I would catch up… but it hasn’t happened, so I’m just going to have to go back and watch the last season at some point. That might not happen for awhile, though, so I’m just picking up with the current...
We can still see you
Sometimes I think that blankets should be banned in group therapy. Now really, how much are you getting out of group if your head is under the blanket?
Elephants and betta fish
I’ve been in an outpatient eating disorders group for awhile now. There’s nothing special about it — it’s just a weekly / bi-weekly group at a treatment center, with women of all ages and ED diagnoses Everyone either has to be in outpatient therapy at the center or have done some kind of intense treatment...
Change in Perspective
In anticipation of the third season of “In Treatment” starting this fall, I’ve been “re-watching” season one. I say “re-watching” because I never finished watching it in the first place. When I first started watching the show, I would watch one patient at a time — week one through week nine. Then I would choose...
A recovery app for that
Several weeks ago I wrote a post -- that I never published -- titled, "I need an iPad for recovery." There has been a lot of negative press about eating disorders and technology, so in contrast I'm going to explain how I've used my iPhone / iPad to aid my recovery...
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