15. battling an eating disorder & the healthcare system with Courtney Stoltzfus-Zvara

Eating disorders are isolating, exhausting, and debilitating on their own. Adding in the stress of finding answers within the healthcare system only adds fuel to the already burning fire.

In this episode, Courtney Stoltzfus-Zvara returns to the podcast to talk about her 16 year struggle with an eating disorder and her battle with the healthcare system. Courtney shares the early signs of her eating disorder as she looks back now, the challenges faced while navigating the healthcare system, and the impact of relationships on recovery.

The discussion also highlights the importance of addressing the psychological aspects of eating disorders, critiquing the medical system's focus on weight restoration, and emphasizing the need for compassion and understanding in treatment. Ultimately, the goal of this episode is to offer hope and validation for those on their own healing journeys and to share harsh realities of the lack of understanding of eating disorders within the healthcare system.

Episode topics:

• Courtney shares the development of her eating disorder spanning over 16 years (2:28)
• Navigating and seeking help within the healthcare system (22:08)
• Courtney shares how her personal relationships positively impacted her recovery (27:24)
• Courtney elaborates on the importance of doing the internal work during recovery (45:32)
• Courtney gives her advice and opinions to medical professionals specifically for eating disorders (52:45)
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Content Warning: This episode contains brief mentions of eating disorder behaviors that Courtney has previously engaged in. Please listen in a way that feels safe for you and your recovery.

Episode guest: Courtney is a sociologist with a philosophical bent. She studied sociology and peace & conflict studies at Gordon (MA), political theory and ethics at the University of Oxford (UK), and completed her postgraduate work in philosophy at University College Dublin (IE). A full-fledged academia-phile, she has conducted research at Oxford, for the European Center for the Study of War and Peace, and for human rights initiatives in Rwanda, Cambodia, and Honduras. She has taught subjects in philosophy and sociology at Trinity College Dublin, Boston University, and Boston College. These days, she is based at Boston College and specializes in the relationship between the body and the social world. Her guiding vocational question is: How does the embodied self experience violence--and what may be done for its flourishing? Currently, she is exploring the role of shame--understood as the internalization of an abstract negative judgement--in the development of eating disorders.

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Connect with Courtney

stotlzf@bc.edu

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