anorexia

A Mini Memoir: Anorexia

Academic Writing
Olivia
A sophomore at NYU, I've been through many treatments and recoveries and am eager to share the lessons I've learned!
Latest posts by Olivia (see all)

My introductory assignment for my first class at NYU was to write a brief essay, about 1 page, that would describe a period in my life as if I were writing a mini-memoir. Here’s what I came up with. Most of you have read this story before, but it got a good grade so I…

Read More

The Scourge of Pro-Ana Content

Eating, Uncategorized
Olivia
A sophomore at NYU, I've been through many treatments and recoveries and am eager to share the lessons I've learned!
Latest posts by Olivia (see all)

If there’s anything that makes me really shake, it’s sociopaths. Well, even more than that, and this isn’t something I usually talk about with folks- so even those close to me wouldn’t know it- but the thing that really grinds my gears the most is internet pro-ana content. What the heck am I talking about?…

Read More

Dermatillomania (Excoriation) in a Bikini

Illness
Olivia
A sophomore at NYU, I've been through many treatments and recoveries and am eager to share the lessons I've learned!
Latest posts by Olivia (see all)

I have a condition called dermatillomania, an anxiety (and usually OCD) based disorder that is characterized by the inability to stop picking, prodding, scraping one’s own skin. I’ve talked about it before, but here’s a quick recap of it. I’ve gone through periods of my life where hours, meaning 4 or 5, were spent on…

Read More

My future plans

School, Uncategorized
Olivia
A sophomore at NYU, I've been through many treatments and recoveries and am eager to share the lessons I've learned!
Latest posts by Olivia (see all)

This break’s been nice. It’s truly exhausting to put things out onto this website, knowing that a handful of people from my old school will likely comment something negative and/or hateful. I have only good things to say today, however! This fall, I’m going to be attending Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. I’m on as…

Read More

VIDEO: 3 Days in a Mentally Ill Life

Videos
Olivia
A sophomore at NYU, I've been through many treatments and recoveries and am eager to share the lessons I've learned!
Latest posts by Olivia (see all)

Below is a video I made documenting 3 days in my life. I discuss panic attacks, PTSD, anxiety, dermatillomania, and my eating disorder. If seeing tears is unpalatable to you, steer clear, but otherwise I hope this is informative and offers good insight!

Read More

I’m So OCD: Inflated Sense of Responsibility

OCD
Olivia
A sophomore at NYU, I've been through many treatments and recoveries and am eager to share the lessons I've learned!
Latest posts by Olivia (see all)

For my whole life, I’ve been the mom friend. Lots of people describe themselves this way. I’ve long been the good influence friend, the alcohol and drug free one who obeyed all traffic signs and only crossed at the crosswalk. It’s said that with every mental disorder, there is a degree of sensibility, and the…

Read More

6 Books That Will Enhance Your Understanding of Mental Illness

Mental Health
Olivia
A sophomore at NYU, I've been through many treatments and recoveries and am eager to share the lessons I've learned!
Latest posts by Olivia (see all)

By now, if you’re a recurrent visitor, you’ve probably seen the short list of books I keep perched on the front page of this site. If you haven’t, every book there will be on this list, so no need to click out. I thought it might be worthwhile to expand upon it, as well as…

Read More

VIDEO: Mental Illness Assumptions

Videos
Olivia
A sophomore at NYU, I've been through many treatments and recoveries and am eager to share the lessons I've learned!
Latest posts by Olivia (see all)

I’ve made a video with a list of assumptions that people often make about mental illness, and their refutations. Below that is a brief summary of what I said. I hope it’s informative! Mentally ill people are violent.So around 60% of Americans believe that there is a correlation between violence and mental illness. In reality,…

Read More

Anorexia and PTSD

Eating
Olivia
A sophomore at NYU, I've been through many treatments and recoveries and am eager to share the lessons I've learned!
Latest posts by Olivia (see all)

This week, the 25th of February through the 2nd of March, is National Eating Disorder Awareness Week. It’s also the last week during which I won’t be glued to my phone, hungering for college acceptance emails, but for the purposes of this site I’m going to stick to writing about eating disorders instead of fretting…

Read More

VIDEO: Daily Anorexia Recovery and the Exchange System

Videos
Olivia
A sophomore at NYU, I've been through many treatments and recoveries and am eager to share the lessons I've learned!
Latest posts by Olivia (see all)

I made a quick video to accompany an explanation of the exchange system, which is a method of meal planning that I was introduced to in treatment. Read on, try to ignore how flushed I am, and make sure to watch in HD 1080! One exchange is, essentially, a quantity of food that can be…

Read More

Subscribe to our mailing list to stay updated!

* indicates required