The good news, however, is that, also contrary to popular belief, full and lasting recovery from an eating disorder is possible.

Guilt is a destructive and ultimately pointless emotion

Eating disorder sufferers cannot be told to 'pull themselves together', to 'stop doing that' or to 'just eat'.

Real hope combined with real action has always pulled me through difficult times. Real hope combined with doing nothing has never pulled me through.

We take action when we have the honesty to admit that things are still broken, despite our best efforts otherwise. We take action when we hold ourselves continually open to new techniques, remaining resolutely receptive to new sources of support and new feeds of information. We take action when we are willing, in each new moment, to try again.

The reasons for Emma's illness and for her decision to allow life in, rather than die, are intertwined and involve the beginnings of her feelings of belonging, of safety and of competence to be in the world.