Why SNL’s “Welcome to Hell” Skit is So Important for People in Eating Disorder Recovery
News & Culture, TraumaThis past Saturday, the women of SNL united for “Welcome to Hell,” a catchy, candy-colored music video that serves to remind everyone that sexual harassment and abusive behavior toward women has been going on for a very, very, very, long…
PTSD and Eating Disorders: A Clinical Understanding of Symptoms Representing Victim and Abuser
TraumaExposure to an extreme traumatic stressor involving direct personal experience of an event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury or threat to one’s physical integrity is included in the description of the diagnosis for…
The Eating Disorders Community Must Take a Stand Against Rape Culture
News & Culture, TraumaWomen’s bodies are routinely criticized, commodified, and objectified. While RAINN reports that 1 out of every 6 American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime, sexual violence is often trivialized or…
5 Tips for Supporting a Loved One With an Eating Disorder and PTSD
Parents & Caregivers, TraumaA woman I treated often described it as the key “roadblock” to her recovery, a seemingly larger-than-life barrier that prevented her from making it to the other side of her eating disorder. She could envision what awaited her, a life rich…
Eating Disorders, Trauma, and PTSD
Recovery, TraumaGetting to the Root Cause to Treat Eating DisordersEating disorders are rarely solely related to abnormal or disturbed eating habits. In fact, eating disorders are rarely even about food. As an integrative medicine practitioner with over thirty…
Bridging the Care Between Eating Disorders and Sexual Violence
Recovery, TraumaSexual violence advocacy is a world of two-sided realities. Survivors often share that they have mixed feelings in the aftermath and healing process. Some examples of these binary realities include:Hating the abuse, but loving the person who…
An Autistic Person’s Perspective on Building a Healthy Body Image After Trauma
Body Image, Special Topics, TraumaIn the beginning of April, I participated in a NEDA chat about eating disorders, body image issues, and how they affect me as an autistic woman. After the chat, I had so many thoughts swirling around in my brain. The questions and answers brought…
From Suffering to Triumph: How I Overcame PTSD
Recovery, TraumaIt is a widely-known, yet little-talked-about fact that trauma in childhood can lead to the development of unhealthy and potentially-fatal coping behaviors such as eating disorders. Until a few years ago, I never spoke a word about the abuse…
Trauma, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and Eating Disorders
Trauma, Understanding Eating DisordersTraumatic events are events that cause psychological, physical and/or emotional pain or harm. Traumatic events, especially those involving violence between people, have been found to be significant risk factors for the development of a…
Sexual Assault and Body Image: Hope, Healing and 3 Common Myths
Nearly one in five women and one in 71 men report being raped at some point in their lives, according to the Center for Disease Control. Given the shame and other complexities that keep many victims from reporting the crimes, these numbers are…