Earlier this week, I signed into my emails and found a message I wasn’t expecting.  It was from the British Journal of Health Psychology, letting me know that a paper I co-authored had been named one of their Top 10 Most-Cited Articles of 2023.

The paper in question explored the impact of calories on menus for people with lived experience of eating disorders.  It was called ‘An extra fight I didn’t ask for’ – a quote taken directly from one of the participants in the study.  We chose this as the title because it felt like it really spoke to the overall experience and struggle that people were reporting.

I don’t do research to be recognised – but the recognition does matter, because it’s evidence that the work we’re doing is having some impact.

Eating disorders are so rarely prioritised in policy decisions – whether it’s calorie labelling or (as I’ve written about recently) the implications of assisted dying bills.  So, when a paper like this becomes one of the most cited, it tells us something important: people are interested; people do care about the topic.  And, hopefully in turn, journals become increasingly keen to publish eating disorder-related research because they know their readership is paying attention.

This is such a positive step, because it can be a challenge to get articles about eating disorders published in general mental health and psychology journals.  Publishing within ED-specific journals is of course valuable – but it’s often preaching to the converted.  We want these conversations to reach further.

While we’re on the topic, I want to take a moment to thank everyone who supported the study – those who helped shape it, shared it, cited it, and most importantly, those who took part.  Your voices are what made this possible, and it’s those voices I always want to elevate in my work.  And let’s not forget my wonderful co-authors – I’m so proud to be working alongside you.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve found myself being pulled more and more toward research.  Not instead of the other things I do – but alongside them.  And this feels like a reminder of why that pull is there.  Because stories matter. Lived experience matters. And when we bring them into academic spaces, change can begin to happen.  It’s slow but, bit by bit, this is progress.

If you haven’t already read the article, you can find it here: https://doi.org/10.1111/bjhp.12685

Thanks, as always, for reading – and for standing alongside me in this work.