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

I wasn’t measuring his food or anything, but realized that I was filling up his bowl more often. To top it off, our pet sitter said something to me about it one day. Her words were, “So why is he eating so much? You know, he’s gaining weight and adult dogs aren’t supposed to.” This made me angry for a couple of reasons…

Chase: How would you feel if I interfered in your personal life?
House: I’d hate it. That’s why I cleverly have no personal life.
If you replace “personal life” with “personal issues,” I could have written those lines (although much less eloquently and using three times as many words).  It’s much harder to be hurt when you just don’t have issues–right?
Along the same lines, Chase and House have another conversation later in the show:
Chase: Why does everybody need to know my business?
House: People like talking about people. Makes us feel superior. Makes …

Since I have a serious Dr. Drew Pinsky addiction (irony intended), I was really sad when his podcast was cancelled.  Thankfully, Celebrity Rehab 2 and Sober House came out shortly after the podcast ended, so I was able to watch those repeatedly for awhile. When VH1 stopped running CR2, I read his books.  Now, having exhausted all of those Dr. Drew resources, I am listening to Loveline.  This kills me a little bit, for several reasons:

It’s called Loveline
Half of it is sex talk
I have to pay $5 …

There have been many blog posts written on facebook and pro-anorexia, however, lately I’ve been thinking a lot about facebook and recovery in general.
Facebook is really unique in that EVERYONE (okay, almost everyone) is on it.  If you’re an eating disorder patient, this means your professionals, the other girls/guys you’re in treatment with, past patients, your school / work friends who may not know about your eating disorder, your family members, etc.  In what other realm do all of these people connect?
For most people, “Facebook stalking” means checking out what …

“You get to define which experiences are traumatic for you, whether or not it would impact others in the same manner.  It’s not the objective facts that determine whether an event is traumatic,  but your own emotional experience of the event.”
– Dr. Kathleen Young

This is just a quick post, but I read this on a trauma blog tonight and thought it was so well-put.  This is something that i struggle with a lot — whether or not something “counts” as significant.  Maybe I am making it up.  Maybe it was …

I’ve been reading Dr. Drew’s book, “Cracked: Life on the Edge in a Rehab Clinic.” There are a million things that I could talk about concerning this book, so don’t be surprised if it’s referenced several times in future posts. Tonight, the following quote really caught my attention:
“Most believe [addicts] connect around a common experience of pain and powerlessness without the fear of exploitation. Their pain is so raw and tender that getting them to start the process requires them to be convinced that their pain will …

There is definitely a stigma surrounding mental illness.  It doesn’t receive the same kind of acceptance as physical illness.  I’m not really going to get into stigmatization and society and whatnot, but I just want to make it clear that I believe that physical illness is much more understood than mental illness.
That said, I am a little disappointed to read this article on relationships and mental health:
A partner is four times more likely to leave you because of a mental health condition like depression than because of a physical disability.
The …

Chase: You don’t let other people’s problems affect you. You don’t let your own problems affect you, and it’s the screw-ups that make us interesting. You’re never out of control, which is good… and boring. Never losing control means you’re never putting yourself out there, never pushing your limits.
– House MD, Lucky Thirteen

The problem with perfection (ha, that’s ironic): it’s boring. There’s nothing “special” about seeming perfect. And yet, I still strive for it. I want for everything to be “correct.”
I want to….

always get …