It was suggested to me as I began treatment for anorexia that I should perhaps keep a journal throughout to document my ‘journey’.  Maybe even then using it to help others once recovered.

My entry into treatment ended up being a little rushed and somewhat overwhelming after I was admitted to hospital a few days before the start date of the ‘inpatient prevention programme’ I had been assessed as suitable for.  The admission potentially jeopardising my place on the programme.  Ironic considering its purpose.     I made it, albeit a day late, which did mean diving headfirst into somewhat of an information overload.  Although I recognised the benefits of journaling, it felt like an additional challenge to my already exhausted brain.  Quite simply I had enough going on.

As I come to the end of the 16-week treatment programme, it feels like a good time to share my reflections as I contemplate what I have learned over the last three months about eating disorders, myself, and how the lines between the two came to be so muddled.   

Through this blog, I aim to convey in simple terms my takeaways from treatment.  Not only to help me consolidate my learnings so I can solidify them in the coming months as I continue to recover and maintain changes, but if in doing this, I can help others make sense of their own damaging thoughts and behaviours, or those of loved ones, then it will make what has been chuffing hard work, all the more worth it.