Unrestricted
How I Stepped Off the Tightrope, Learned to Say No,
and Silenced Anorexia
by Dawn Brockett
In Unrestricted, Dawn Brockett challenges the pervasive belief that anorexia is compelled by a desire to control. Having battled and beaten severe restrictive anorexia herself, she proposes that anorexia is triggered by a lack of the space a young woman needs to fully individuate— to become who she chooses to be without being controlled by others.
Given how long treatment paradigms have held firm to this belief about control—and the limited progress we’ve made in treating anorexia, the deadliest of all mental health disorders—she issues a call to action to change the way anorexia and anorectics are viewed and treated through the lens of her own successful battle against the disorder.
The anorectic is not compelled by a desire to control the world or to be thin. She is compelled to disappear, shrinking to the space that she feels she is allowed to take up in her life, the size of which is dictated by others’ demands and expectations.
At once heart-wrenching, heartwarming, and hopeful, this is the story of how one woman stopped disappearing, started listening to her own voice, and finally claimed her rightful place in the world.
About Dawn
Dawn is a classically trained chef, college professor, advisor to clinical trials in anorexia, and managing director of a medical society. She is a master yoga instructor and has an honors degree in Philosophy from Westminster College, a graduate certificate in French Language and Literature from the Université de Paris—Sorbonne, an advanced graduate certificate in French Literature and Poetry from L’Institut de Touraine, and a graduate certificate in Negotiation & Peace Studies and Master of Public Policy & Administration degree from Boise State University.
She lives in the Mountain West on a small but demanding farm with her outrageously talented wife, their remarkably smart and hilarious puppy, and a small flock of loud but prolific chickens. Mountains of exceptional height, chocolate of profound depth and conversations of extraordinary length reliably lure her from her writing mat.
Connect with Dawn at www.dawnbrockett.com.