Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Interview on True/Slant


Katie Drummond is an interesting young Canadian writer living in NYC and writing for a site called True/Slant. She interviewed me last week for the site, and here's a link to the results of that chat. It's always good to see eating disorders covered intelligently rather than in the Madonna/whore way of most media outlets, where people are either "accused" of having anorexia or ridiculed for being fat because they're wearing size 2 jeans.

7 comments:

Carrie Arnold said...

Great interview, Harriet! Drummond had really good questions for you- and you had great answers.

Labyrinith said...

WONDERFUL! Love your answers.

Anonymous said...

I don't fault you for doing the interview, but I do fault you for subjecting me to Katie Drummond! Ick! http://trueslant.com/katiedrummond/2009/06/05/daily-dosage-fit-into-your-miniskirttonight/

Fat Bastardo said...

Indeed!

LF said...

I am pretty sure she was being totally sarcastic.

Anonymous said...

Can you link to the papers re: the recovery rate before vs. after 25?

I'd be really interested in reading that... as a 25 y/o who was in solid recovery for years, then relapsed at 22. I think you're right about the adult transition, and I really have felt this sense of urgency re: recovering now.

If I allow my ED to become a predominant part of my adult landscape, well... yeah. I think it's different for me, since I have seven more years of school (I'm in a double doctorate program) and some of the transition into adulthood etc will come at a much later age for me. Still, I think that as a graduate/professional student I'm developing more of my own identity, and I don't think it would be possible to progress professionally/academically if I maintained the ED.

I've watched friends fall into that-- scraping by in undergrad, struggling in first jobs & eventually dropping out of graduate school and winding up on disability etc. That seems to be a hard trap to work your way out of.

Harriet said...

Anon,
The 8 to 25 comment was about incidence, not recovery. That's when most EDs start.

The comment about getting through to your mid 20s is based on conversations I've had with therapists and my own observations. I don't have a study to back that up.

More to the point, I think, is your own sense of not wanting the ED to become a permanent part of your adult landscape, as you put it so elegantly. Excellent insight and, I believe, very true.

Thing is, as you no doubt know, it's terribly hard to get out of an ED by yourself. Do you have some good help on hand?