Eating disorders are complex processes to live with and recover from – I know firsthand from my struggle and subsequent healing from one. They begin for multifaceted reasons, including genetic factors, trauma, the media’s fascination with thin bodies, and the medical community’s false belief that thinness equates to health. Treatment and support for eating disorders… Read more →
Tag: eating disorder
15 Seconds to Illness: How TikTok is Contributing to an Eating Disorder Epidemic
Today, the idea that social media has a great effect on mental health is hardly a revelation. As more individuals join these social networks and harmful content becomes easier and easier to disguise, the number of affected children and teens continues to grow. In particular, new social media networks such as TikTok have contributed to… Read more →
The Freshman Fifteen: A Stigmatized Phenomenon
Seventeen magazine popularized the phrase “freshman fifteen” in 1989 and the phrase remains ubiquitous in U.S. culture today.1 Seventeen’s cover story “Fighting the Freshman 15” depicted the inevitable weight gain as an uphill, hopeless battle. The so-called “freshman fifteen” fostered a legendary nervous epidemic amongst students, especially women, entering their first year of college. How… Read more →
I Think I Love You: Life, Death, and the Enduring Legacy of David Cassidy Fever
On May 30, 1974, 14-year-old Bernadette Whelan died after lingering in a coma for four days. The cause of her death? Officially, “traumatic asphyxiation.” Unofficially, according to the coroner, “a victim of contrived hysteria,” otherwise known as David Cassidy Fever. Twenty-six years later, at 14 years of age, my own life was saved. The cause… Read more →