Past, present and future - From rock bottom to mental health nurse

Eating disorders have a purpose to them, they don't just emerge for no reason. Many describe their eating disorder as helping them to feel in control of something, others see it as a form of self-harm, some say it helps numb feelings etc. Many people describe initially seeing their eating disorder as being like a best friend, something that they trust and value. I'm aware that I am referring to eating disorders as though they are helpful, but there is in fact truth to that. They wouldn't be so difficult to recover from if there was no benefit to them. After years of therapy and reflection I've grown to understand and acknowledge the purpose of my eating disorder and the reasons why I developed one. In the process of letting go of anorexia I was faced with everything I had been running away from, creating raw terror, confusion, pain and self-hatred. It was like releasing flood gates with everything overwhelming me. It was only after this though that I started to make rea...

I've been considering writing a blog for a while however various things have prevented me from doing so. Recently though, I have begun to realise the power of writing in terms of educating, informing and the personal therapeutic benefits. It is my belief that my mental illness stems from bottling things up and writing is a way of releasing the lid of the bottle, especially at times when it can be difficult to talk. My twitter profile suggests that I have a lot to say but I'm limited in characters there so I thought I'd give this blogging business a go.  Life has not turned out as well as I had hoped. I didn't anticipate on developing an eating disorder that would see me hospitalised on multiple occasions or any of the other mental illnesses come to that. They have sought to destroy me and it has been an incredibly tough battle. I want to write about my experiences of mental illness for several reasons. I believe we have made progress but stigma against mental illness is...