Consumption and Disposability
Disposable: designed for or capable of being thrown away after being used or used up. (dictionary.com) America’s latest quick fix: disposable romantic relationships. Relationships are stressful. Sometimes the difficult periods or sporadic stressful event feel interminable for one or both in the relationship. To expect total satisfaction, perfection or being in constant ‘kindred spirit’ mode with your […]
Cornerstone of Eating Disorder Recovery
It is natural to stifle negative emotions. Why on earth would anyone choose to experience emotions that will likely make them feel bad?” The answer is simple and twofold. First, we feel emotions all the time whether we want to or not. If we accept the idea that we are driven by our core needs […]
Implementing Attachment Theory in Treating Eating Disorders
The current research in the treatment of eating disorders continues to shape and enhance our theoretical understanding and impacts how we approach treatment. Some clinicians and researchers assert that it does not matter how patients arrived at their disorder, but rather what is necessary to help them recover. Focusing on what caused a particular individual’s eating […]
PTSD and Its Relationship to Eating Disorders
Exposure to an extreme traumatic stressor involving direct personal experience of an event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury or threat to one’s physical integrity is included in the description of the diagnosis for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD.) Sexually traumatic events for children may include developmentally inappropriate sexual experiences without threat or actual violence or injury. Physical and/or sexual […]
A Valentine’s Day Message for Families with Eating Disorders
Relationships are important. Lots of reasons, unique and specific to my nature and how I was nurtured, led me to be a care giver, provider, nurturer. I have a high threshold for other peoples’ pain and generally tolerate a lot from an individual before I come to accept that I cannot do the work for […]
Recovery from an Eating Disorder is Possible
It is that time of year again. Time for Resolutions and lists for the New Year. Tricky for a person with an eating disorder since Resolutions and lists can feel like a bucket full of expectations, ‘shoulds,’ guilt, self-recrimination and ultimately self-defeat. If recovery from an eating disorder is on your New Year’s Resolution list then trust that […]
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 […]