Misc
Be contagious

Be contagious

After reading Walter Vandereycken’s article, How ‘contagious’ can eating disorders be in the eyes of patients? I started to wonder why “contagion” was always considered a bad thing.  The word definitely has a negative connotation — probably due to it’s frequency of use with “infectious” and “disease.”  However, several definitions of the word address it...
Eating disorder self-diagnosis

Eating disorder self-diagnosis

I was reading an article (full text available!) by Walter Vandereycken (which I will post about in greater length soon), and something in his online survey caught my eye: In the first part of the survey, participants were asked a few general questions, in cluding self-diagnosis of the type of eating disorder they were showing most...
Quotes and Meaning

Quotes and Meaning

I’m not usually much of a quote person, but recently I’ve run across that have really hit home with me, in regard to my eating disorder, treatment, recovery, and life.  Those who know me know that positive affirmations kind of drive me up the wall… but I have a lot of quotes and a list...
Trust and deception

Trust and deception

I purchased a card with a quote from Christian D. Larson on it today (yes, I am a greeting card addict), which really has me thinking: It is better ro have faith in everybody and be deceived occasionally than to mistrust everybody and be deceived almost constantly.” – Christian D. Larson I think this really...

Stealing from the holidays

What does the eating disorder steal from your holidays? 1. Time spent with friends and family 2. Holiday spirit 3. The world outside of treatment 4. Holiday food 5. Almost a whole season of the year that's different from any other time
4 ways to lie

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...
Empowered discussion

Empowered discussion

Laura from “Eating With Your Anorexic” posted something the other day, that I just HAD to comment on: Something new is happening in eating disorders. The voice of eating disorder patients is less stereotyped, more empowered, and less victimized. Why? I attribute the changes to two separate but interacting elements: the cross-pollination of the Internet,...

EDs and “doing something”

The line, “You are a human being, not a human being,” would be on my “top 10 overused phrases in therapy” list (were such a list to exist). However, this concept was the first thing to come to mind when I was reading the article, The Reward of Doing “Something”: People have this inclination to...
NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo is an annual event where lots of people commit to writing/blogging a mini-novel in November (50,000 words). I encourage any (or all) of you to participate and write about some of your struggles. Participating in NaNoWriMo is a fun way to increase mental health awareness. Not only that, but it's a...
TMI, Panera

TMI, Panera

Over the weekend, I had my first experience with Panera’s new calorie-labelled menus.  Honestly, I order the same couple of things every time, so the menus may have been there for a couple of weeks and I just haven’t noticed.  Regardless, I was a little shocked to see them. I’ve been trying to figure out...
Diagnoses aren't evil

Diagnoses aren’t evil

I'm going to avoid diving into labeling theory... but I think that diagnoses are ultimately meant to guide treatment. You're really saying "here are a cluster of common symptoms" so that you can research and treat individuals with those characteristics. It's not adequate to just describe someone as being sad, because the other...
greythinking.com

greythinking.com

As of today, we are greythinking.com!  The original address, greythinking.wordpress.com, will continue to work, as will all of the original posts and links.  I figured it was about time that I got a “real” domain, though. If anyone has problems with their RSS feeds (though you shouldn’t), let me know….