Some good things that have come out of the Covid pandemic lock-downs

If anything good has come out of the Covid pandemic, it's that lockdowns, pressure on NHS staff, etc has raised the profile of mental health issues. Increasingly, celebrities and people in the media are 'coming clean' about their own struggles with mental health. Unlike when my son began to develop the deadly eating disorder, anorexia, in 2009, there is much, much less of a stigma attached to mental health struggles. It seems completely bonkers that, back in 2009, I felt pressurised to keep my son's emerging eating disorder as a secret to avoid being blamed as a 'bad mother' i.e. the cause of my son's eating disorder - or, to protect my son, the antiquated conclusion that an individual's mental health battles are a sign of 'weakness'.

First media interview I've done since the C-PTSD kicked in (and now, thankfully, out)

 I struggled for a long time with Chronic or Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) as a result of the horror, trauma and stress of battling to get my son through his eating disorder (anorexia). For what seems like years I was unable to face anything to do with eating disorders and that included writing this blog and talking to the media about the issue of eating disorders in boys / males. It was just too triggering.

Almost 3 years since my last post - here's an update

Things have changed enormously over the past couple of years, and not because of the covid pandemic; it's better news than that. I'm trying to remember where I left off in Ben's story, so here's a quick recap for those who want to know how Ben is getting along these days.