2025 Alyssa Adamson Bountiful HS

My battle with Mental & Physical Health

Hello! My name is Ally. I’m 17 and have recovered from Anorexia, graduated from the OCD & Anxiety treatment center, and have recovered from a self harm addiction. When I was 13 years old I came across dieting influencers on social media. I thought dieting was the way to go in order to be healthy. I started restricting and exercising obsessively. My mental health suffered as well as my physical health. When they told me I had an eating disorder I didn’t believe them fully at first. But over time, I was able to turn my defiance away from my care team and towards the eating disorder. It’s been around 5 years and I have reached and maintained a healthy weight, as well as mended my relationship with food and exercise. It was a long and painful battle and I did slip up during the process. This journey has taught me how strong I am and now I have more empathy for others and their health journeys. I now want to go into nursing so I can brighten others’ days who are battling with physical and mental health problems.

At 16 years old, I was diagnosed with OCD and severe anxiety. It got to the point where I stopped leaving my house unless absolutely necessary. I stopped going to school because of the anxiety I felt. I went to the OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center for 8 weeks and did exposure therapy to learn how to live with my struggles and fight back. I graduated their program. I still battle with these things each day but have learned to function day to day at a much higher level than before. I’m social again, I’ve tried many new things that push me out of my comfort zone, and my grades are no longer suffering. I’m learning to live with anxiety and OCD and use my skills I’ve learned through treatment in my every day life.

I’ve had some very hard moments in the past but there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. I just need to keep pushing myself so I can get to where I want to be.