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Caitlin Caven

About

Caitlin Caven is a writer and editor. She has previously published in the print edition of Psychology Today, written regularly for Nerve.com, edited/translated for French music blog La Blogotheque, and currently writes/edits copy for Icelandic creative firm Arnar&Arnar. She has been a guest on several radio shows and podcasts, including NPR. Her anthropology degree is gathering dust.

Caven was diagnosed with severe Crohn’s disease at age 10 and focuses this blog on living with chronic illness. She is a former abortion doula and current hospice volunteer.

Recent Posts
...And You Will Know Us by Our Greasy Trash
The five minutes in which you’re chewing Skittles may be the closest thing to “pleasure” you can get. Let’s not be so quick to slap them out of your sticky, multicolored hands.
Confess Your Pain, Get a Prize
Pain is grinding, banal, and tedious. When you're in its grasp, you do weird things. If you're lucky, you'll do them in public. With an audience. Of strangers!
Beauty Tips for the Ill and Infirm

Cosmetics allow the Walking Sick a measure of control about how the world at large perceives us; here are some pro-tips to coloring yourself back to "passable."

Cosmetics allow the Walking Sick a measure of control about how the world at large perceives us; here are some pro-tips to coloring yourself back to "passable."

Bon Voyage, Pain! See You When We Land

You've got 47 pamphlets full of things to do, but all you can do is watch the ceiling fan. "The weather is beautiful, wish you were here!"

You've got 47 pamphlets full of things to do, but all you can do is watch the ceiling fan. "The weather is beautiful, wish you were here!"

All Aboard! It's A Dissociation Vacation!

When you find yourself thrown back into the meat grinder of The Hospital, shield yourself from the bottomless sadness by making jokes. Ha ha, look! That monkey is washing a cat.

When you find yourself thrown back into the meat grinder of The Hospital, shield yourself from the bottomless sadness by making jokes. Ha ha, look! That monkey is washing a cat.

Heart on Your Sleeve, Dumb Thoughts on Your Chest

The sacred in me acknowledges the sacred in you, but the rest of me really, really hopes we don't have to talk.

The sacred in me acknowledges the sacred in you, but the rest of me really, really hopes we don't have to talk.

Hospital Pro-Tips

Ten insider tips to help you visit an ER or hospital like an annoyed, blasé pro.

Ten insider tips to help you visit an ER or hospital like an annoyed, blasé pro.