On the Other Side: From Grief to Laughter and Play
For a woman who has made her professional life revolve around the lives of people for whom food is a regular source of misery and that thoughts of eating bring on simultaneous feelings of wanting, fear, self-loathing and guilt, I am struck by how little time I write about the successes of people in recovery from an eating disorder. Preoccupying […]
In Defense of the Bagel
The Gluten-Free solution continues to gain momentum as it preys on our body size and shape insecurities. Marketing strategies based upon convincing us that eating gluten free products will eliminate body bloat, particularly around the abdomen, and enable us to lose weight and feel grrrrrrreat, dominate advertising. Naturally, with these Machiavellian words of wisdom come solutions; buy, gluten free products. […]
The Importance of Accepting Painful Emotions:
Whether we are willing to face it or not, the truth is that we all experience pain. We experience loss and separation as well. And often we experience those emotions because of or along with the people we love most — those with whom we share attachments. The pain itself is often an outcome of […]
Manipulation in Families with Eating Disorders
One of the major difficulties that stand in the way of building authentic connections in families where eating disorders arise is manipulation. Often parents feel they are being held hostage by their child—that she/he is making conscious attempts to control them either through the eating disorder or through other psychological means. Many professionals who treat people with […]
Treating Eating Disorders the New-Fashioned Way
Can On-line treatment be effective for treating patients with eating disorders? Yes, but the patient should be well known by the therapist and the patient’s symptoms significantly reduced or eliminated prior to making the transition. In the fall of 2014, I, for the most partclosed my NY psychotherapy practice in order to live full-time on a mountaintop […]
Body Alterations and Enhancements: Positive or Negative
Whatever the media and advertising’s role is in driving shape, weight, and appearance, western culture responds. ‘You too can look and feel more beautiful.’ ‘Lose weight and feel great.’ ‘Eliminate the appearance of wrinkles.’ Women and men buy in to media driven hype. We want to be ‘it,’ or have ‘it.’ We enhance (through cosmetics,) transform […]
Perfectionism: Inherited or A Psychological Solution?
In some ways, I am a perfectionist. On the plus side, I can count on myself to get a job done, and generally on time. I know my patterns enough to know that even when I procrastinate, particularly if I have a deadline, I will usually meet it. So, I have stopped worrying when I procrastinate. […]
Genes and Eating Disorders
Living in an eating disorder professional world and a culture that is certifiably nuts about its expectations regarding body size and shape, I push myself to read the latest research and whatever else comes to my “in box,” regarding eating disorders. Staying relevant is the key in so many things… A recent on-line article titled, “Ten Things […]
How Family Becomes Food
Most people who know about eating disorders or are familiar with someone who has one understand that there are many reasons that contribute to the development of an eating disorder. Each person is unique and therefore the constellation, which contributes to cause, is also unique. Biological, psychological, relational, media, and cultural facts can, and often […]
Food is Family
You don’t have to be an eating disorder specialist to understand the significance of food. Food plays a role in every physical, recreational and relational arena in life. Food is a representation of a family’s love and often becomes the battleground when a member develops an eating disorder. A culture is defined by its food – its […]