Category: Uncategorized

What is Emotional Avoidance?

Emotional avoidance is a key topic in therapy when you’re struggling with an eating disorder. But what is it exactly, and why is it so bad? Generally speaking, emotional avoidance is the ability to shut down, turn off, ignore, or disregard uncomfortable emotions. This can actually be healthy in certain situations, like when you’re at… Read more »

An Open Letter to Parents of Children Struggling with an Eating Disorder

Dear Parents, This is an incredibly difficult journey that you are embarking on, one that you never wished to begin or even dreamt of coming upon. It will bring up powerlessness, helplessness, confusion, anger, and grief. There will be times where you may not recognize the child sitting in front of you and you wonder… Read more »

EMDR Themes and Eating Disorders

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (commonly known by its acronym, EMDR) is well-known for its use in the treatment of trauma and PTSD, but it can be used to treat a variety of other conditions as well. Part of what makes EMDR adaptive outside of trauma is the way it categorizes the problems that… Read more »

Eating Disorders On The Rise After A Year Of Uncertainty And Isolation

NPR’s Ari Shapiro talks with eating disorders specialist Nooshin Kiankhooy about how to address concerns of disordered eating in oneself and others after what was a triggering year for many. Hear the interview and read the whole transcript here! https://www.npr.org/2021/06/15/1006861692/eating-disorders-on-the-rise-after-a-year-of-uncertainty-and-isolation

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Unmet Needs: Eating Disorder Edition

If you’re familiar with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, you’ve probably seen this image before: Eating disorders cut to the heart of Maslow’s hierarchy, as they jeopardize both sets of basic needs: physiological and safety needs. They completely disrupt our relationship with food and can sometimes jeopardize our water intake as well (either by drinking too… Read more »

New Year, New Me?: A Fed-Up Client Talks about New Year’s Resolutions

At this time of the year, New Year’s resolutions are incredibly popular, but for folks in the eating disorder community, this poses many problems, as most of these resolutions revolve around weight loss and dieting. To understand more about the impact of resolutions on people working toward recovery from their eating disorders, Kate interviewed an… Read more »

Eating Disorders Among Marginalized Groups

When many people think of someone struggling with an eating disorder, they think of a thin, white, upper-middle-class girl, probably in her teens or early 20s, who fears weight gain and exercises constantly. While this is the experience of some people with eating disorders, this stereotype often hurts many others who are struggling with eating… Read more »

The Other Kind of ED in Men

On Tuesday night’s episode of the Bachelorette, Ben talked about how he struggled with an eating disorder for over ten years (see this link from a segment on Good Morning America about it!). For many viewers, I’m sure they were surprised to hear this, as many people think of eating disorders as something that impact… Read more »

A Guide on How to Survive Holidays with Grace and Good Cheer, Part II

Okay, so that was the easy part. Now that that’s over, here is the rest of the guide. And this part of the guide isn’t for those of us in recovery, it’s for the people in our lives who are actually guilty of feeding the eating disorder. Sometimes we take TOO much responsibility for the difficult… Read more »

A Guide on How to Survive the Holidays with Grace and Good Cheer Part I

The holiday season is fast approaching and you know what that means! Unwanted comments about your body and appearance from Aunt Karen, a play-by-play of what you’ve already eaten so far from Uncle Joe, and your mother asking “haven’t you eaten enough?” as soon as you even consider gathering the courage to go for seconds… Read more »