Good girls: a story and study of anorexia

In 1995, Hadley Freeman wrote in her diary "I just spent three years of my life in mental hospitals. So why am I crazier than I was before????" From the ages of fourteen to seventeen, Freeman lived in psychiatric wards after developing anorexia nervosa. Her doctors informed her that her body was cannibalizing her muscles and heart for nutrition, but they could tell her little why she had it, what it felt like, what recovery looked like. For the next twenty years, Freeman lived as a "functioning anorexic," grappling with new forms of self-destructive behavior as the anorexia mutated and persisted. Good Girls is an honest and hopeful story of resilience that offers a message to the nearly 30 million Americans who suffer from eating: Life can be enjoyed, rather than merely endured.