This is a social media video series I have crafted to engage the world of eating disorders. The material is created by Kati Morton a marriage and family therapist intern who specializes in eating disorders.
The content has been placed on a multi-platform environment; personal blog, Facebook Fan Page, Twitter, Youtube and Tumblr. In an effort to reach those suffering from eating disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Binge Eating and EDNOS Kati Morton has decided to launch her brand to globally assist those who suffer. Produced in Los Angeles the video content is delivered once a week on Youtube and promoted across all channels.
My PURPOSE -- Eating Disorder Video #1
As a therapist and eating disorder specialist I feel that many people are affected by eating disorders. I have created this video and website to help me reach more people and offer my support. This video is the first of many to help share my knowledge and expertise surrounding anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and compulsive eating disorder. Throughout my time working with eating disorders I have seen the disease manifest through weight loss, binge/purging, exercise addiction, laxative abuse, osteoporosis, osteopenia, difficulty concentrating as well as many other physical and psychological ailments. It is my hope that leveraging social media whether it is YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn can help me reach more people and spread the word about eating disorders and how destructive they can be to the people who suffer from them as well as those closest to them.
SCREEN CAPTURES
Journaling - Eating Disorder Video #2
This video offers some advice on coping skills. I recommend that each client I see purchase a journal. Having a journal with you during the day and by your bed at night can help you better cope with stress, anxiety and depression. It can also give an outlet for any eating disorder (whether that be anorexia, bulimia or compulsive eating/binge eating) struggles you are having that you do not feel comfortable sharing with anyone. It is my hope that leveraging social media whether it is YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn can help me reach more people and spread the word about eating disorders and how destructive they can be to the people who suffer from them as well as those closest to them.
This video offers some advice on coping skills. I recommend that each client I see purchase a journal. Having a journal with you during the day and by your bed at night can help you better cope with stress, anxiety and depression. It can also give an outlet for any eating disorder (whether that be anorexia, bulimia or compulsive eating/binge eating) struggles you are having that you do not feel comfortable sharing with anyone. It is my hope that leveraging social media whether it is YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn can help me reach more people and spread the word about eating disorders and how destructive they can be to the people who suffer from them as well as those closest to them.
Treatment Team - Eating Disorder Video #3
This video describes the health care providers that you may need to get involved in your treatment and recovery. I discuss the need for your primary care doctor, dentist, psychiatrist, therapist, and dietician to know about your eating disorder to better help you. In order to create a healthy mind and healthy body it is important to enlist these professionals in your recovery from anorexia, bulimia or compulsive eating/binge eating disorder. Due to the whole body being effected by an eating disorder you will need to have various specialists to help you return to a healthy body. I have seen these disorders leave clients with osteoporosis, osteopenia, tooth decay, loss of reproductive ability, thyroid issues, and many others. Therefore I feel it is imperative that we have many people involved in our recovery so that the various part of our body and mind are well cared for. It is my hope that leveraging social media whether it is YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn can help me reach more people and spread the word about eating disorders and how destructive they can be to the people who suffer from them as well as those closest to them.
This video describes the health care providers that you may need to get involved in your treatment and recovery. I discuss the need for your primary care doctor, dentist, psychiatrist, therapist, and dietician to know about your eating disorder to better help you. In order to create a healthy mind and healthy body it is important to enlist these professionals in your recovery from anorexia, bulimia or compulsive eating/binge eating disorder. Due to the whole body being effected by an eating disorder you will need to have various specialists to help you return to a healthy body. I have seen these disorders leave clients with osteoporosis, osteopenia, tooth decay, loss of reproductive ability, thyroid issues, and many others. Therefore I feel it is imperative that we have many people involved in our recovery so that the various part of our body and mind are well cared for. It is my hope that leveraging social media whether it is YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn can help me reach more people and spread the word about eating disorders and how destructive they can be to the people who suffer from them as well as those closest to them.
Making your 1st therapy appointment - Eating Disorder Video #4
This video is about setting up your first appointment to see a therapist. I know that making that first appointment can be anxiety producing and very difficult. I also know that many people feel stigmatized by seeking help and I hope that by speaking candidly about therapy I can lessen the worry. It is my firmly held belief that all should seek out therapy, not just those suffering from eating disorders. Not ever having gone to see a therapist would be like driving a car and never taking it in for a tune up or an oil change. You can find a therapist by asking your friends and family, checking with your insurance, or asking your primary care physician. I also want to make it clear that just because you have set up the first appointment does not mean that if you do not like the therapist that you have to make another appointment. There are many studies that show the success of therapy is primarily based on the quality of the relationship between the therapist and the client, so make sure you do not settle for someone who does not feel comfortable to you. As always, it is my hope that by leveraging social media whether it is YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn can help me reach more people and spread the word about eating disorders and how destructive they can be to the people who suffer from them as well as those closest to them.
This video is about setting up your first appointment to see a therapist. I know that making that first appointment can be anxiety producing and very difficult. I also know that many people feel stigmatized by seeking help and I hope that by speaking candidly about therapy I can lessen the worry. It is my firmly held belief that all should seek out therapy, not just those suffering from eating disorders. Not ever having gone to see a therapist would be like driving a car and never taking it in for a tune up or an oil change. You can find a therapist by asking your friends and family, checking with your insurance, or asking your primary care physician. I also want to make it clear that just because you have set up the first appointment does not mean that if you do not like the therapist that you have to make another appointment. There are many studies that show the success of therapy is primarily based on the quality of the relationship between the therapist and the client, so make sure you do not settle for someone who does not feel comfortable to you. As always, it is my hope that by leveraging social media whether it is YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn can help me reach more people and spread the word about eating disorders and how destructive they can be to the people who suffer from them as well as those closest to them.
What is an eating disorder -- Video #5
This video is about the DSM definition of what an eating disorder is. I felt that it was important to go over what the criteria are because many people misuse the term eating disorder. An eating disorder is described as someone who has a severe disturbance in their eating behavior. The most important term in that definition is the word "severe." This isn't something that they only think about when they are eating or when planning an event that will have food at it. This severe disturbance takes up most of their thoughts and practically runs their life. When "normal eaters" make plans to get together with friends they get excited to catch up and eat at their favorite restaurant. Someone with an eating disorder would not be excited. An event like this would cause them great anxiety and they may even try to cancel the event multiple times. I hope that clears up any confusion and stay tuned for more videos clarifying the types of eating disorders, such as, anorexia, bulimia, and compulsive/binge eating. It is my hope that leveraging social media whether it is YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn can help me reach more people and spread the word about eating disorders and how destructive they can be to the people who suffer from them as well as those closest to them.
This video is about the DSM definition of what an eating disorder is. I felt that it was important to go over what the criteria are because many people misuse the term eating disorder. An eating disorder is described as someone who has a severe disturbance in their eating behavior. The most important term in that definition is the word "severe." This isn't something that they only think about when they are eating or when planning an event that will have food at it. This severe disturbance takes up most of their thoughts and practically runs their life. When "normal eaters" make plans to get together with friends they get excited to catch up and eat at their favorite restaurant. Someone with an eating disorder would not be excited. An event like this would cause them great anxiety and they may even try to cancel the event multiple times. I hope that clears up any confusion and stay tuned for more videos clarifying the types of eating disorders, such as, anorexia, bulimia, and compulsive/binge eating. It is my hope that leveraging social media whether it is YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn can help me reach more people and spread the word about eating disorders and how destructive they can be to the people who suffer from them as well as those closest to them.
What is Anorexia Nervosa -- Eating Disorder Video #6
This video is about the DSM definition of anorexia nervosa. I felt that it was important to go over what the criteria are because many people misuse the term anorexia. Anorexia is characterized by four criteria. The first being a person's refusal to maintain an ideal body weight, which is know if vague but I feel that it is vague on purpose because everyone's body shape and size is different. A person with anorexia can keep their weight low by restricting or purging and it is my experience that this will change over the course of their eating disorder. The second criterion is that this person will have an intense fear of gaining any weight. This is not like someone who knows they gain weight during the holidays and so they go to the gym more out of fear that they will gain the weight. This is much more severe, and the fears about weight gain monopolize their thoughts all day and night. The third criterion is that the person's view of themselves is distorted. I do not mean that if you have a day where you look in the mirror and don't like what you see that you have a distorted self perception, this is much more severe and no one can change their mind about how they think they look. The fourth criterion is the loss of your period. This is not required because many may have never had their period so they could not have lost it. Also, if a person is on birth control that can potentially force their body into having a period even if their body would not do so naturally. It is my hope that leveraging social media whether it is YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn can help me reach more people and spread the word about eating disorders and how destructive they can be to the people who suffer from them as well as those closest to them.
This video is about the DSM definition of anorexia nervosa. I felt that it was important to go over what the criteria are because many people misuse the term anorexia. Anorexia is characterized by four criteria. The first being a person's refusal to maintain an ideal body weight, which is know if vague but I feel that it is vague on purpose because everyone's body shape and size is different. A person with anorexia can keep their weight low by restricting or purging and it is my experience that this will change over the course of their eating disorder. The second criterion is that this person will have an intense fear of gaining any weight. This is not like someone who knows they gain weight during the holidays and so they go to the gym more out of fear that they will gain the weight. This is much more severe, and the fears about weight gain monopolize their thoughts all day and night. The third criterion is that the person's view of themselves is distorted. I do not mean that if you have a day where you look in the mirror and don't like what you see that you have a distorted self perception, this is much more severe and no one can change their mind about how they think they look. The fourth criterion is the loss of your period. This is not required because many may have never had their period so they could not have lost it. Also, if a person is on birth control that can potentially force their body into having a period even if their body would not do so naturally. It is my hope that leveraging social media whether it is YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn can help me reach more people and spread the word about eating disorders and how destructive they can be to the people who suffer from them as well as those closest to them.
Coping with the Holidays! - Eating Disorder Video #7
The holidays can be stressful for anyone, but especially someone with an eating disorder. If you think about it, everything we do around any holiday involves food, and is therefore stressful for anyone who has a difficult time with food. The purpose of this video is to offer three helpful tips to assist you in dealing with the holidays. The first tip is to journal about the stress and anxiety. This can give you a safe place to vent and express your concerns and/or frustrations with the holidays. Just make sure you keep it with you so that you can always jot down things you may want to write more on later and also so that you can journal wherever you are. The second tip is to keep your relaxing music mix with you and accessible at all times. When you start to feel the anxiety of going to dinner at a friend or families house creep up on you, turn on this mix. It will be most helpful if you take the time to place songs that you could fall asleep to/breathe deeply and relax to. The last tip to help you with the holidays is to step away. As we all know, holiday events can be unpredictable. Maybe we thought we would be eating at 5 and it is 7 and the food is still not ready and now you feel like binging etc. Sometimes it can help to just step away from everyone for a moment and take a deep breath and relax. Maybe take someone's coat into the coat room for them and stay in there for an extra minute or two. Sometimes all we need is just a moment to gather our strength. Also, so not hesitate to comment below or follow me on twitter so that we can start to create a safe place to talk and comment about our struggles and our successes so that we can help each other get closer to a healthy mind, healthy body. It is my hope that leveraging social media whether it is YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn can help me reach more people and spread the word about eating disorders and how destructive they can be to the people who suffer from them as well as those closest to them.
The holidays can be stressful for anyone, but especially someone with an eating disorder. If you think about it, everything we do around any holiday involves food, and is therefore stressful for anyone who has a difficult time with food. The purpose of this video is to offer three helpful tips to assist you in dealing with the holidays. The first tip is to journal about the stress and anxiety. This can give you a safe place to vent and express your concerns and/or frustrations with the holidays. Just make sure you keep it with you so that you can always jot down things you may want to write more on later and also so that you can journal wherever you are. The second tip is to keep your relaxing music mix with you and accessible at all times. When you start to feel the anxiety of going to dinner at a friend or families house creep up on you, turn on this mix. It will be most helpful if you take the time to place songs that you could fall asleep to/breathe deeply and relax to. The last tip to help you with the holidays is to step away. As we all know, holiday events can be unpredictable. Maybe we thought we would be eating at 5 and it is 7 and the food is still not ready and now you feel like binging etc. Sometimes it can help to just step away from everyone for a moment and take a deep breath and relax. Maybe take someone's coat into the coat room for them and stay in there for an extra minute or two. Sometimes all we need is just a moment to gather our strength. Also, so not hesitate to comment below or follow me on twitter so that we can start to create a safe place to talk and comment about our struggles and our successes so that we can help each other get closer to a healthy mind, healthy body. It is my hope that leveraging social media whether it is YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn can help me reach more people and spread the word about eating disorders and how destructive they can be to the people who suffer from them as well as those closest to them.
What is Bulimia Nervosa? - Eating Disorder Video #8
This video is about the DSM definition of Bulimia Nervosa. I feel that it is important to go over what the criteria are because many people misuse the term bulimia. I also recognize that bulimia and any other eating disorder is different to each and every person suffering, however, there has to be a DSM definition in order to properly diagnose and treat. The first criterion is that they eat more than a "normal eater" would in a short period of time. The DSM says within 2 hours, but like I said this can be different for everyone, as well as the amount eaten can vary from person to person. The second criterion is that they do some behavior to compensate for their "binge." This can be anything from self-induced vomiting, which is the most common, to over-exercise or use of laxatives and diuretics. The different types of compensatory behaviors places people into one of two categories: purging or non-purging types. Lastly, just like every eating disorder, the person suffering places extreme focus on their weight, size, and shape and will base their entire day, mood, and what they will and will not eat on these feelings. I hope that helps clear up some of the confusion surrounding what bulimia nervosa really is. It is my hope that leveraging social media whether it is YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn can help me reach more people and spread the word about eating disorders and how destructive they can be to the people who suffer from them as well as those closest to them.
This video is about the DSM definition of Bulimia Nervosa. I feel that it is important to go over what the criteria are because many people misuse the term bulimia. I also recognize that bulimia and any other eating disorder is different to each and every person suffering, however, there has to be a DSM definition in order to properly diagnose and treat. The first criterion is that they eat more than a "normal eater" would in a short period of time. The DSM says within 2 hours, but like I said this can be different for everyone, as well as the amount eaten can vary from person to person. The second criterion is that they do some behavior to compensate for their "binge." This can be anything from self-induced vomiting, which is the most common, to over-exercise or use of laxatives and diuretics. The different types of compensatory behaviors places people into one of two categories: purging or non-purging types. Lastly, just like every eating disorder, the person suffering places extreme focus on their weight, size, and shape and will base their entire day, mood, and what they will and will not eat on these feelings. I hope that helps clear up some of the confusion surrounding what bulimia nervosa really is. It is my hope that leveraging social media whether it is YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn can help me reach more people and spread the word about eating disorders and how destructive they can be to the people who suffer from them as well as those closest to them.
What is a Binge Eating Disorder - Video #9
This video is about the DSM definition and criteria of Binge eating disorder. I created this video to make sure that when I use the term Binge Eating Disorder you are clear about what it is I am talking about. Binge Eating Disorder is very similar to Bulimia Nervosa, but lacks one main characteristic. People with Binge Eating Disorder do not do anything after they have binged to "make up" for the binge. They do not purge, exercise, use laxatives, etc. following their binge. They do, however, still have the other characteristics of Bulimia. They eat more than a "normal" amount of food in a short period of time. The DSM says within two hours, but I do not like to give constraints to my clients, and usually want to know what a binge is to them, in their terms. As well as those suffering from Bulimia, a person with Binge Eating Disorder will feel completely out of control during the binge. As with every other eating disorder, a person with Binge Eating Disorder will be completely obsessed with her weight, shape and size for a majority of her day. I hope that helps to clarify what Binge Eating Disorder is as well as how difficult it can be for those suffering to stop their behaviors. I also want to note that I do not limit my clients to these specific criteria, however when trying to get insurance coverage, they ask that these are the criterion that be used. It is my hope that leveraging social media whether it is YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn can help me reach more people and spread the word about eating disorders and how destructive they can be to the people who suffer from them as well as those closest to them.
This video is about the DSM definition and criteria of Binge eating disorder. I created this video to make sure that when I use the term Binge Eating Disorder you are clear about what it is I am talking about. Binge Eating Disorder is very similar to Bulimia Nervosa, but lacks one main characteristic. People with Binge Eating Disorder do not do anything after they have binged to "make up" for the binge. They do not purge, exercise, use laxatives, etc. following their binge. They do, however, still have the other characteristics of Bulimia. They eat more than a "normal" amount of food in a short period of time. The DSM says within two hours, but I do not like to give constraints to my clients, and usually want to know what a binge is to them, in their terms. As well as those suffering from Bulimia, a person with Binge Eating Disorder will feel completely out of control during the binge. As with every other eating disorder, a person with Binge Eating Disorder will be completely obsessed with her weight, shape and size for a majority of her day. I hope that helps to clarify what Binge Eating Disorder is as well as how difficult it can be for those suffering to stop their behaviors. I also want to note that I do not limit my clients to these specific criteria, however when trying to get insurance coverage, they ask that these are the criterion that be used. It is my hope that leveraging social media whether it is YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn can help me reach more people and spread the word about eating disorders and how destructive they can be to the people who suffer from them as well as those closest to them.
Listen to YOUR inner voice - Eating Disorder Video #10
I made this video to begin work on figuring out how to get in touch with our inner selves. We hear a lot of voices every day, on TV, on the radio, even in magazines and we slowly lose touch with what we REALLY want and what is REALLY good for us. By taking time to remember ourselves before we lost touch with that voice is the first step in recovery. One of the ways to begin listening to that voice is by remembering an amazing childhood memory. Now I know that "childhood" can be different for everyone, but it needs to be a time when we felt free from many of the things that now hold us down. Take out your journal and write down this memory. That way when you are struggling to hear your own voice you can reread this and remember what it was like to be that person. What would she think of what is going on now? Do you think she remembered what she ate that day? Or worried about how much she could work out later? Probably not, and she was also probably happier. So take the time to work on this journal entry and see what comes up for you. You may have more than one memory, or it may take you awhile to remember one at all. All I know is that this can really help you get in touch with your authentic self, and now one can do that for you but you. So go ahead, and let's take this first step together, towards a healthy mind, healthy body.
I made this video to begin work on figuring out how to get in touch with our inner selves. We hear a lot of voices every day, on TV, on the radio, even in magazines and we slowly lose touch with what we REALLY want and what is REALLY good for us. By taking time to remember ourselves before we lost touch with that voice is the first step in recovery. One of the ways to begin listening to that voice is by remembering an amazing childhood memory. Now I know that "childhood" can be different for everyone, but it needs to be a time when we felt free from many of the things that now hold us down. Take out your journal and write down this memory. That way when you are struggling to hear your own voice you can reread this and remember what it was like to be that person. What would she think of what is going on now? Do you think she remembered what she ate that day? Or worried about how much she could work out later? Probably not, and she was also probably happier. So take the time to work on this journal entry and see what comes up for you. You may have more than one memory, or it may take you awhile to remember one at all. All I know is that this can really help you get in touch with your authentic self, and now one can do that for you but you. So go ahead, and let's take this first step together, towards a healthy mind, healthy body.
Toxic Friends - Eating Disorder Video #11
I created this video to remind us to evaluate who we spend our time with and how we feel afterwards. I know that I have encountered a few "toxic friends" in my time and I know that it is hard to let them go, but I do know that I feel much better not having them in my life. What I call "toxic friends" are people in your life that do not help you feel better about anything. They remind you of your shortcomings and seem to drain all of the energy right out of you. This doesn't mean that they are outwardly mean or rude, but after you spend time with them, you feel worse about yourself and your recovery. This could be a friend who doesn't really want to recover from their eating disorder, or it could be a friend who subtly puts you down so that she feels better about herself. They come in all types, but the important thing is to simply know that they are there. I would encourage you to grab that journal I told you to buy and jot down the top five people that you spend time with. Take little notes by their names as to whether you feel better or worse about yourself after being with them. It is a subtle change, but by changing the energy around us we can help cultivate a healthier perception of ourselves and recover quicker. So take the time to evaluate who you are spending your time with and let's continue on this path to a healthy mind, healthy body. As always, it is my hope that by leveraging social media whether it is YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn can help me reach more people and spread the word about eating disorders and how destructive they can be to the people who suffer from them as well as those closest to them.
I created this video to remind us to evaluate who we spend our time with and how we feel afterwards. I know that I have encountered a few "toxic friends" in my time and I know that it is hard to let them go, but I do know that I feel much better not having them in my life. What I call "toxic friends" are people in your life that do not help you feel better about anything. They remind you of your shortcomings and seem to drain all of the energy right out of you. This doesn't mean that they are outwardly mean or rude, but after you spend time with them, you feel worse about yourself and your recovery. This could be a friend who doesn't really want to recover from their eating disorder, or it could be a friend who subtly puts you down so that she feels better about herself. They come in all types, but the important thing is to simply know that they are there. I would encourage you to grab that journal I told you to buy and jot down the top five people that you spend time with. Take little notes by their names as to whether you feel better or worse about yourself after being with them. It is a subtle change, but by changing the energy around us we can help cultivate a healthier perception of ourselves and recover quicker. So take the time to evaluate who you are spending your time with and let's continue on this path to a healthy mind, healthy body. As always, it is my hope that by leveraging social media whether it is YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn can help me reach more people and spread the word about eating disorders and how destructive they can be to the people who suffer from them as well as those closest to them.
http://www.katimorton.com
I created this video because I feel that many therapist and clients focus their work on the past and what has been done to them. I wanted to express how important I feel the past is, but also how much it can hold us back from doing the hard work. If we spend so much time looking back and talking about what bad things happened to us we cannot move forward. I do want to clarify that I feel we need to work through the past and accept what happened, but once that has been done you are only hurting yourself by continuing to focus on that incidence or incidences. I constantly remind myself of the definition of insanity, "doing the same thing and expecting a different result," it is because of this that I feel we need to focus on what we want for the future and where we want to be instead of what we don't want and what has already happened. We have to change! Let's set positive non-eating disorder goals and work to reach them. If we take responsibility for our lives and our choices from here on out we can recover and reach those life goals that we have felt were so out of reach for so long. So let's look forward and take responsibility for our choices from here on out. It is my hope that leveraging social media whether it is YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn can help me reach more people and spread the word about eating disorders and how destructive they can be to the people who suffer from them as well as those closest to them.
I created this video because I feel that many therapist and clients focus their work on the past and what has been done to them. I wanted to express how important I feel the past is, but also how much it can hold us back from doing the hard work. If we spend so much time looking back and talking about what bad things happened to us we cannot move forward. I do want to clarify that I feel we need to work through the past and accept what happened, but once that has been done you are only hurting yourself by continuing to focus on that incidence or incidences. I constantly remind myself of the definition of insanity, "doing the same thing and expecting a different result," it is because of this that I feel we need to focus on what we want for the future and where we want to be instead of what we don't want and what has already happened. We have to change! Let's set positive non-eating disorder goals and work to reach them. If we take responsibility for our lives and our choices from here on out we can recover and reach those life goals that we have felt were so out of reach for so long. So let's look forward and take responsibility for our choices from here on out. It is my hope that leveraging social media whether it is YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn can help me reach more people and spread the word about eating disorders and how destructive they can be to the people who suffer from them as well as those closest to them.
I created this video because I have been hearing from a lot of you that you want to discuss the diagnosis of EDNOS (eating disorder not otherwise specified). Now EDNOS is really a "catch all" for people who have an eating disorder but do not quite meet the criteria for the other diagnosis. As I have said before in other videos, these diagnosis are created for professionals in the field to help with treatment planning and are used in order to receive coverage from an insurance plan. I truthfully believe most ED clients fall into this category because, as we all know, eating disorders are shaper shifters. You may restrict for a few months and fall into the anorexia diagnosis and then binge and purge for awhile and fit the bulimia criteria. Therefore, EDNOS is the only diagnosis that makes sense, right? So I hope that clarifies what EDNOS is and why it is used in treatment plans, and as always do not hesitate to comment below or leave your questions.
ANXIETY - "Dealing with it" 101 - Eating Disorder Video
A lot of you have been asking abot triggering and anxiety. I like to keep my topics separate so I will be covering triggers/triggering in a future video.
For now, I am going to address anxiety and how to manage it. I know that anxiety in and of itself is a huge topic and is different for everyone. I completely get that and believe me, I will be doing a lot more videos on the subject... So let's just call this video Dealing with Anxiety 101. I hope it helps and remember, you can always contact me on here if you have questions.
A lot of you have been asking abot triggering and anxiety. I like to keep my topics separate so I will be covering triggers/triggering in a future video.
For now, I am going to address anxiety and how to manage it. I know that anxiety in and of itself is a huge topic and is different for everyone. I completely get that and believe me, I will be doing a lot more videos on the subject... So let's just call this video Dealing with Anxiety 101. I hope it helps and remember, you can always contact me on here if you have questions.
Managing Need For PERFECTION - Eating Disorder Video
In this video I address a topic that plagues a lot of people with eating disorders as well as those without. The need/pressure to be "perfect." This pressure, whether it comes from inside or outside of ourselves can drive us to do very damaging things. I talk a lot about "living life in the grey" and not in the black and white. This means that when we try something new, or do something we've been doing for years, we commit to it in an extreme way. Then, because we are all humans, we cannot keep it up at that pace and we "fall short" of our "perfect" expectations and then we end up feeling bad about ourselves. This continues over and over just like the cycle of binge eating and other ED behaviors. In order to stop this cycle from continuing, we need to practice moderation. To be clear, I do not mean slack off and fail a class or lose your job, I just mean create some healthy boundaries. When you are exhausted and your body aches, don't go to the gym. When your boss calls you at 8pm, don't pick up. When that "toxic friend" calls you at a really inconvenient time, let it go to voicemail. We don't have to be perfect all the time. Just being you is more than enough. Let your true self shine and let's stop letting others dictate our lives and stress levels. Let's start being okay with less than perfection.
How to Get Treatment When FUNDS Are Low-Eating Disorder Video #16
I created this video due to some questions I got from a follower of mine on Twitter. She was having trouble getting treatment for her eating disorder due to lack of funds. The first tip that I offer is simply asking your therapist, dietitian or really anyone in your treatment team, if they work on a sliding scale. To a clinician this means that you cannot afford the regular rate and would like to know if they will work with you. I almost always work with my clients on cost because I know how expensive treatment can be. I would recommend asking this before you make an appointment because you do not want to get into a situation where you actually owe them more than you can afford.
The second tip is for a higher level of care. Most people do not know that treatment facilities offer sponsorship for some patients each year. It could be to get a tax write off, or just out of the kindness of their hearts, but all you have to do is ask. If you have some insurance coverage, but it will leave you with a high out of pocket cost, ask if they will help. Many people do not know that you can just ask for it and they may give it to you. You've got nothing to lose:)
The last tip is to get free treatment online. You are watching my video and reading my information. Guess what?? It's free!! I know you have the option and often times the urge to get onto an unhealthy site but you can choose to make the web a place where you get your free treatment. There is that split second where you have the choice to either click on an unhealthy site or on someone who posts recovery focused material. Take a breath. And try to choose the recovery one. I know that you won't be able to resist it every time, but hopefully we can lessen the garbage that we put into our minds, and instead put in healthy, body loving information to help us on our path to recovery.
I hope this was helpful, and feel free to ask any questions you have. I love to get your feedback and questions!! Some of the websites I recommend are something-fishy.com and edreferral.com for finding therapists and other clinicians who specialize in eating disorders. People I would subscribe to on youtube are DearNicoleRae, cavernchick, anorexiaRecovery, and amindmedia. Hopefully that will help lower the amount of "garbage" we put into our brains every day. If you have other websites and people who help you, let me know and post it!!
ati
The second tip is for a higher level of care. Most people do not know that treatment facilities offer sponsorship for some patients each year. It could be to get a tax write off, or just out of the kindness of their hearts, but all you have to do is ask. If you have some insurance coverage, but it will leave you with a high out of pocket cost, ask if they will help. Many people do not know that you can just ask for it and they may give it to you. You've got nothing to lose:)
The last tip is to get free treatment online. You are watching my video and reading my information. Guess what?? It's free!! I know you have the option and often times the urge to get onto an unhealthy site but you can choose to make the web a place where you get your free treatment. There is that split second where you have the choice to either click on an unhealthy site or on someone who posts recovery focused material. Take a breath. And try to choose the recovery one. I know that you won't be able to resist it every time, but hopefully we can lessen the garbage that we put into our minds, and instead put in healthy, body loving information to help us on our path to recovery.
I hope this was helpful, and feel free to ask any questions you have. I love to get your feedback and questions!! Some of the websites I recommend are something-fishy.com and edreferral.com for finding therapists and other clinicians who specialize in eating disorders. People I would subscribe to on youtube are DearNicoleRae, cavernchick, anorexiaRecovery, and amindmedia. Hopefully that will help lower the amount of "garbage" we put into our brains every day. If you have other websites and people who help you, let me know and post it!!
ati
My Thoughts on PROANA/PROMIA Sites-Eating Disorder Video #18
I created this video to address some of the sites out there on YouTube and Tumblr as well as other social media sites that promote eating disorders. I know that people are struggling and that you deal with your eating disorder all day every day, but to create a whole website just promoting sickness is not something that I support. What I have hoped to create with my website is a healthy, supportive environment where people can feel free to share their struggles and their triumphs. I do not want people on here to be sharing their tips on how to maintain their sickness. I know when you are really struggling it is hard to get out of it and I am hoping that my site, my YouTube channel and all that I promote can be focused on helping one another better ourselves. Just to clarify this does not mean that you cannot talk about what struggles you have, I just mean that the tips given on my sites should be to help, not harm. By doing this I wish to continue creating a community working towards a Healthy Body, Healthy Mind.
ANGER! - Eating Disorder Video #22
Today's video is about anger. I know you are probably wondering why I chose to do a video about anger and the reason is because many of us run from this emotion. I know that for many of the clients that I have worked with over the years, they never stand up for themselves or feel able to confront someone who has hurt them. They for some reason feel that they are not worthy or do not deserve to be anger or express that anger to the person who caused it. They even turn their anger in on themselves believing that they do not have a right to feel the way that they do. It is because of this uncomfortability with even the slightest feelings of anger that I am addressing it today.
The first thing I want you to notice is how anger feels in your body. You know your body. Your throat, your hands, your jaw etc. Think about how it feels when you get angry. What do you do to suppress it? When do you know that you cannot suppress it and you are going to explode? What signs does your body give you? Think about all of these things and go grab some craft supplies. You won't need much, just some paper, an old magazine, markers and/or crayons.
I first want you to color that entire paper red. Let the feelings of anger pulse through your hands as you color. See what it feels like to harness the feeling and use it to do something constructive. Once the entire sheet is colored red, I want you to fill it with words and cut out pieces of things that make you angry. The reason this is a great way to start exploring this emotion is because you do not have to talk to anyone about it. You just get to see what it feels like to be angry and to exert that feeling through constructive motion.
Another way to begin experiencing anger on a more healthy level is to kick a ball, or throw a ball into a cement wall. That can help you express your anger through another motion. You have to kind of figure out what works best for you, but just make sure that you are not damaging anything by doing any of these activities.
You can also listen to angry music while doing this. Put your head phones on and really allow yourself to feel anger and notice how your body responds. If you cannot get outside, maybe scream into a pillow or throw a stuffed animal around. That can give you the same satisfaction as kicking a ball in a much more inside friendly way.
The last option is to write it out. Maybe write some mean letters, that you never send, to people who have angered or hurt you. Be honest! Be mean! Express what you are truly feeling without any worry that someone may read it later. This can really help you begin to see why you are in fact angry and in a way justify the emotion for you that you have had so much trouble trusting.
I hope that at least one of these tips helps you healthfully express your anger and allow you to begin turning that anger outward appropriately instead of inward and harming ourselves more. Leave your comments below and do not forget to subscribe to my channel so that when I post my next video you are notified. So let's continue to work together as we move towards a healthy mind and a healthy body.
The first thing I want you to notice is how anger feels in your body. You know your body. Your throat, your hands, your jaw etc. Think about how it feels when you get angry. What do you do to suppress it? When do you know that you cannot suppress it and you are going to explode? What signs does your body give you? Think about all of these things and go grab some craft supplies. You won't need much, just some paper, an old magazine, markers and/or crayons.
I first want you to color that entire paper red. Let the feelings of anger pulse through your hands as you color. See what it feels like to harness the feeling and use it to do something constructive. Once the entire sheet is colored red, I want you to fill it with words and cut out pieces of things that make you angry. The reason this is a great way to start exploring this emotion is because you do not have to talk to anyone about it. You just get to see what it feels like to be angry and to exert that feeling through constructive motion.
Another way to begin experiencing anger on a more healthy level is to kick a ball, or throw a ball into a cement wall. That can help you express your anger through another motion. You have to kind of figure out what works best for you, but just make sure that you are not damaging anything by doing any of these activities.
You can also listen to angry music while doing this. Put your head phones on and really allow yourself to feel anger and notice how your body responds. If you cannot get outside, maybe scream into a pillow or throw a stuffed animal around. That can give you the same satisfaction as kicking a ball in a much more inside friendly way.
The last option is to write it out. Maybe write some mean letters, that you never send, to people who have angered or hurt you. Be honest! Be mean! Express what you are truly feeling without any worry that someone may read it later. This can really help you begin to see why you are in fact angry and in a way justify the emotion for you that you have had so much trouble trusting.
I hope that at least one of these tips helps you healthfully express your anger and allow you to begin turning that anger outward appropriately instead of inward and harming ourselves more. Leave your comments below and do not forget to subscribe to my channel so that when I post my next video you are notified. So let's continue to work together as we move towards a healthy mind and a healthy body.
PORN? Food Porn!
This week's video addresses something that I know many people with eating disorders struggle with. That is food porn. I know that for many of you that term is something new. What I mean by food porn is when you watch The Food Network or any other cooking channel for hours on end, or maybe you spend all night looking up recipes. Whatever it is that you do, whenever you spend an extreme amount of time doing it, you are feeding your eating disorder. Usually we talk only about the actual ED behaviors like binging, purging or over exercising. This is something that we also do to hinder our recovery, and we may even do it in secret and be embarrassed if someone found us doing it. That's why I call it porn. Because it feels good when we are watching it or doing it, we do it in secret, and we spend more time than any other person would spend doing it. We can never get enough!
So what I am asking you to do is just acknowledge what other ED porn behaviors you have. Notice how long you spend doing them and why it is that you choose these porn sites. Do you watch food network because you are hungry and you want to watch food being prepared? Do you look up recipes in order to plan your next binge? Do you watch runway shows to support your ED's belief that that is what a real woman looks like? Think about why you do it, and take note of how long you spend each day. Instead of trying to just stop looking at it or doing it all together, let's just try to cut back by one hour this week. See how you feel doing it less? Do you find yourself craving it more? Do you try to sneak it in at other times when you normally wouldn't? Do you feel a bit of freedom? Whatever it is, write it down and slowly titrate your food/ED porn time down. Let me know how it is going and remember to comment below as well as subscribe to my channel.
Each and every day we will keep working towards a healthy mind and a healthy body.
This week's video addresses something that I know many people with eating disorders struggle with. That is food porn. I know that for many of you that term is something new. What I mean by food porn is when you watch The Food Network or any other cooking channel for hours on end, or maybe you spend all night looking up recipes. Whatever it is that you do, whenever you spend an extreme amount of time doing it, you are feeding your eating disorder. Usually we talk only about the actual ED behaviors like binging, purging or over exercising. This is something that we also do to hinder our recovery, and we may even do it in secret and be embarrassed if someone found us doing it. That's why I call it porn. Because it feels good when we are watching it or doing it, we do it in secret, and we spend more time than any other person would spend doing it. We can never get enough!
So what I am asking you to do is just acknowledge what other ED porn behaviors you have. Notice how long you spend doing them and why it is that you choose these porn sites. Do you watch food network because you are hungry and you want to watch food being prepared? Do you look up recipes in order to plan your next binge? Do you watch runway shows to support your ED's belief that that is what a real woman looks like? Think about why you do it, and take note of how long you spend each day. Instead of trying to just stop looking at it or doing it all together, let's just try to cut back by one hour this week. See how you feel doing it less? Do you find yourself craving it more? Do you try to sneak it in at other times when you normally wouldn't? Do you feel a bit of freedom? Whatever it is, write it down and slowly titrate your food/ED porn time down. Let me know how it is going and remember to comment below as well as subscribe to my channel.
Each and every day we will keep working towards a healthy mind and a healthy body.
HUNGER... for Feelings - Eating Disorder Video #24
This video is something that I wanted to create to get you thinking about what it is that you hunger for. I don't mean hunger for food, but instead hunger for things in life. Hunger for love, affection, attention, etc. In order to even begin to think about what it is each of us hunger for, I want you to try and access that inner voice that I have talked about in my past video. Sometimes this can be a childhood memory or simply a very nice memory that we return to because of the great significance it has for us. Did you feel joyful? When was the last time you felt joy? Or maybe it was freedom you felt. Can you think of a time when you felt so free from all of the worry and anxiety? Try to remember a time in your life when you felt one of these things, because this can help unearth what it is that we crave and hunger for. If neither of those thoughts work, maybe it is love that you crave. Have you ever felt pure love from someone and given it to them in return? This does not have to be romantic love, but this can be a close friend or family member who helped us through a hard time.
When we begin to dig through these memories and think about what it is we crave we can start to find out why we have an eating disorder in the first place. An eating disorder does not come out of nowhere! It was created to protect us from unhappy times and unwanted emotion. It helps us focus our time and energy onto something else. But it's reason for being is no longer here and we will have to dig through these emotions as search for recovery.
Take some time, jot down the things that you feel hunger or yearn for. Be patient with yourself, I know that your ED will tell you how shameful each and everyone of those needs is, but IT IS NOT!! We are all human, we all have needs and things that we hunger for. Let's start talking about this and begin to peel back what it is that we have been hiding from for all this time.
When we begin to dig through these memories and think about what it is we crave we can start to find out why we have an eating disorder in the first place. An eating disorder does not come out of nowhere! It was created to protect us from unhappy times and unwanted emotion. It helps us focus our time and energy onto something else. But it's reason for being is no longer here and we will have to dig through these emotions as search for recovery.
Take some time, jot down the things that you feel hunger or yearn for. Be patient with yourself, I know that your ED will tell you how shameful each and everyone of those needs is, but IT IS NOT!! We are all human, we all have needs and things that we hunger for. Let's start talking about this and begin to peel back what it is that we have been hiding from for all this time.
"Equations, Calculations and Comparisons" I DO THIS, DO YOU? -- Eating Disorder Video
We all do it... We do! Even when we don't think we are, we are doing it. What the hell am I talking about? I am talking about comparing, measuring, and using equations. We especially do it when we are out with other girlfriends. Someone orders something for lunch that we deem "healthy" therefore all of us must either do the same or break out of the "rule" and give an explanation why we are being so "unhealthy." It's infuriating! Why do we keep ourselves and those closest to us down with all of this comparison and measuring up? Someone mentions to someone else how great they look or how thin they look and we automatically compare ourselves to this "thin and great" looking person. Someone orders a no flavor, bland, boring salad for lunch and even though all we want is a turkey sandwich with french fries, we feel that we can't. We would feel "gross" or "fat." We think that following our bodies' desires and hungers is scary and that we cannot trust our very own instincts. We think, "what if once I give in nothing will ever be enough?" "What if I over-do it and get fat and lazy?" We tell ourselves over and over that our own bodies and our own needs cannot be trusted. They will be the undoing of us. Why? Who says we cannot trust ourselves? Why does our body have any urges at all if they are not to be heard and complied with?
We also use equations to validate our actions; if I exercise for x amount of time I can eat dessert. Or if I didn't eat for x amount of hours than I can have that thing I have been craving; all these equations running in our heads all day trying to find a way to just equal zero. To disappear, to be seen, to be heard, to be loved, to not feel like such a burden, we think that we can force our bodies into submission and make all of the "bad" emotions go away. But by following our ED we just seem to make the voices worse. It's annoying, frustrating, ridiculous, embarrassing, and incessant. But for some reason, our mind tells us to comply, so we do. The good news is that we actually don't have to do what our ED tells us, we just have to be ready for change and ready for it to get louder before it shuts the hell up. We have to go to war.
I made this video a bit different because I didn't really want to offer up any tips, but instead just get you to think about what it is you compare and why you use the equations and measurements you do. Just notice, and see what there is that may need to be changed. That's really the first step to recovery anyways. So let me know what you come up with. Maybe my examples are way off, or maybe one really hit home. Let me know, so that we can continue working together towards a healthy mind and a healthy body.
We all do it... We do! Even when we don't think we are, we are doing it. What the hell am I talking about? I am talking about comparing, measuring, and using equations. We especially do it when we are out with other girlfriends. Someone orders something for lunch that we deem "healthy" therefore all of us must either do the same or break out of the "rule" and give an explanation why we are being so "unhealthy." It's infuriating! Why do we keep ourselves and those closest to us down with all of this comparison and measuring up? Someone mentions to someone else how great they look or how thin they look and we automatically compare ourselves to this "thin and great" looking person. Someone orders a no flavor, bland, boring salad for lunch and even though all we want is a turkey sandwich with french fries, we feel that we can't. We would feel "gross" or "fat." We think that following our bodies' desires and hungers is scary and that we cannot trust our very own instincts. We think, "what if once I give in nothing will ever be enough?" "What if I over-do it and get fat and lazy?" We tell ourselves over and over that our own bodies and our own needs cannot be trusted. They will be the undoing of us. Why? Who says we cannot trust ourselves? Why does our body have any urges at all if they are not to be heard and complied with?
We also use equations to validate our actions; if I exercise for x amount of time I can eat dessert. Or if I didn't eat for x amount of hours than I can have that thing I have been craving; all these equations running in our heads all day trying to find a way to just equal zero. To disappear, to be seen, to be heard, to be loved, to not feel like such a burden, we think that we can force our bodies into submission and make all of the "bad" emotions go away. But by following our ED we just seem to make the voices worse. It's annoying, frustrating, ridiculous, embarrassing, and incessant. But for some reason, our mind tells us to comply, so we do. The good news is that we actually don't have to do what our ED tells us, we just have to be ready for change and ready for it to get louder before it shuts the hell up. We have to go to war.
I made this video a bit different because I didn't really want to offer up any tips, but instead just get you to think about what it is you compare and why you use the equations and measurements you do. Just notice, and see what there is that may need to be changed. That's really the first step to recovery anyways. So let me know what you come up with. Maybe my examples are way off, or maybe one really hit home. Let me know, so that we can continue working together towards a healthy mind and a healthy body.
SCHOOL & ED? How do we deal with both? - Eating Disorder Video
In this video I start to address the topic of dealing with eating disorders and school. I have received a lot of feedback about this on my website and many have requested I do a video addressing this topic. So here it is:)
The first thing that you will need to think about is whether you are willing to make the commitment to treatment. I know that this is the hardest decision, but if you are not willing to take the steps needed to get better than we won't be able to actually get better. Right? So take some time and think that over.
Once you have decided that you want to get better I would encourage you to see a therapist. Also, you may want to see a dietician. I know that you already feel overwhelmed but there are outpatient clinics that can help work around your school schedule. If you are already doing that, or if you don't think that that will be enough, than you may want to look into different inpatient treatment options.
The most difficult decision will be to go into inpatient, but it may be your best chance at recovery. In order to complete this kind of treatment you will have to take a leave of absence from school. But school will always be there! You only have one you and one life! Let's work towards living a healthy and happy one:)
In order to take a leave of absence from school you will need a note from either your primary care doctor or your therapist, or both. The note will just have to say that you need to take a leave from school due to medical reasons. They may have to put your diagnosis in the letter as well as any diagnostic information they have. These letters are very simple, and every doctor and therapist should have already done about a hundred of these. So don't worry that they will think you are weird or anything. It will take them five minutes to complete. Then you pick the treatment center and take your time getting better. We are not perfect!! We cannot do it all at once!! It is overwhelming!! Trust me, I know!! So take the time to get better and we will keep working towards a healthy mind, and a healthy body.
In this video I start to address the topic of dealing with eating disorders and school. I have received a lot of feedback about this on my website and many have requested I do a video addressing this topic. So here it is:)
The first thing that you will need to think about is whether you are willing to make the commitment to treatment. I know that this is the hardest decision, but if you are not willing to take the steps needed to get better than we won't be able to actually get better. Right? So take some time and think that over.
Once you have decided that you want to get better I would encourage you to see a therapist. Also, you may want to see a dietician. I know that you already feel overwhelmed but there are outpatient clinics that can help work around your school schedule. If you are already doing that, or if you don't think that that will be enough, than you may want to look into different inpatient treatment options.
The most difficult decision will be to go into inpatient, but it may be your best chance at recovery. In order to complete this kind of treatment you will have to take a leave of absence from school. But school will always be there! You only have one you and one life! Let's work towards living a healthy and happy one:)
In order to take a leave of absence from school you will need a note from either your primary care doctor or your therapist, or both. The note will just have to say that you need to take a leave from school due to medical reasons. They may have to put your diagnosis in the letter as well as any diagnostic information they have. These letters are very simple, and every doctor and therapist should have already done about a hundred of these. So don't worry that they will think you are weird or anything. It will take them five minutes to complete. Then you pick the treatment center and take your time getting better. We are not perfect!! We cannot do it all at once!! It is overwhelming!! Trust me, I know!! So take the time to get better and we will keep working towards a healthy mind, and a healthy body.
CUTTING / What & Why of Self-Harm
This video is simply the first of many to address the issue of self-harm and cutting. I have heard from many of you that this is something that you have either dealt with personally or you have someone in your life who engages in this behavior and you do not know what to do. To begin the conversation I would like to focus on the therapeutic side of this and why it is that some people struggle with this behavior.
Cutting and/or self-harm is not something that has been given its own diagnosis, nor is it something that many therapists are actually trained to deal with. It is because of this lack of knowledge about and/or fear to even talk about it, that I believe we have so many young women struggling with it today.
The main reason that someone will cut is somewhat similar with the reason that someone has an eating disorder. They have many uncomfortable emotions, they do not have a healthy outlet for those emotions, and their body finds a way to let it out. It is because of this that cutting is not actually something that people do for the pain. They also do not do it because they like to, or even want to. They do it as a release to everything that they are feeling and cannot say. Many clients I have seen even describe it as an "out of body experience" and that they kind of disassociate while they are cutting. This reminds me a lot of those who suffer from binging. I know a lot of my binge eaters, EDNOS and bulimics say that they feel out of touch with themselves when they binge. Also, the same way that binge eaters do, many cutters immediately feel remorse for their actions and try to hide their cuts or scratches. It is because of this that many do not seek help for it and suffer in silence. There is a lot of shame that is associated with cutting and because most cutters are not actually trying to commit suicide, they worry what people will think when they see their scars and scabs. They usually bandage them right away, only to later pick at them to recreate the release that they had from the initial cut. It can be said that many crave cutting the way an person with an ED craves their ED behavior.
It is my belief that these parallels between ED and cutting behavior are why many struggle with both. Just like any topic I discuss, it is not meant to completely define the issue, but it is intended to start a conversation. The more we can talk about these things that we struggle with and try to keep hidden, the freer we will become. Share how you have worked to stop cutting and/or what it was that lead you to cut in the first place. Let's be conversation starters. Let's work towards a healthy mind AND a healthy body.
This video is simply the first of many to address the issue of self-harm and cutting. I have heard from many of you that this is something that you have either dealt with personally or you have someone in your life who engages in this behavior and you do not know what to do. To begin the conversation I would like to focus on the therapeutic side of this and why it is that some people struggle with this behavior.
Cutting and/or self-harm is not something that has been given its own diagnosis, nor is it something that many therapists are actually trained to deal with. It is because of this lack of knowledge about and/or fear to even talk about it, that I believe we have so many young women struggling with it today.
The main reason that someone will cut is somewhat similar with the reason that someone has an eating disorder. They have many uncomfortable emotions, they do not have a healthy outlet for those emotions, and their body finds a way to let it out. It is because of this that cutting is not actually something that people do for the pain. They also do not do it because they like to, or even want to. They do it as a release to everything that they are feeling and cannot say. Many clients I have seen even describe it as an "out of body experience" and that they kind of disassociate while they are cutting. This reminds me a lot of those who suffer from binging. I know a lot of my binge eaters, EDNOS and bulimics say that they feel out of touch with themselves when they binge. Also, the same way that binge eaters do, many cutters immediately feel remorse for their actions and try to hide their cuts or scratches. It is because of this that many do not seek help for it and suffer in silence. There is a lot of shame that is associated with cutting and because most cutters are not actually trying to commit suicide, they worry what people will think when they see their scars and scabs. They usually bandage them right away, only to later pick at them to recreate the release that they had from the initial cut. It can be said that many crave cutting the way an person with an ED craves their ED behavior.
It is my belief that these parallels between ED and cutting behavior are why many struggle with both. Just like any topic I discuss, it is not meant to completely define the issue, but it is intended to start a conversation. The more we can talk about these things that we struggle with and try to keep hidden, the freer we will become. Share how you have worked to stop cutting and/or what it was that lead you to cut in the first place. Let's be conversation starters. Let's work towards a healthy mind AND a healthy body.
SWIMSUIT SEASON!!! - Eating Disorder Video
This video was something that I made due to the amount of feedback that I have received from all of you about the stress and pressure that comes along with summer and swimsuit season. I know that this topic and time of year will always be tricky for us, but there are ways that we can be better prepared for it. First, I want you to consider everything that I say and make sure that you put it into your own words so that when someone asks you about your preparations for summer, you are prepared and comfortable with what you are going to say.
My first tip is to set some goals that you want to achieve by summer. That way when someone asks you how you are preparing for summer you have an answer, and it's not even made up!! Make sure these are small goals that you could achieve each week or so to keep yourself motivated and not add stress to an already stressful time. Remember, this is a progression, this is not perfection. It may even make sense to set a goal to not achieve all of your goals!! I know that sounds crazy, but sometimes when we are perfectionists, it is good to not do it all.
The second tip is to detour the conversation. You have been in conversations with people who do this. You probably didn't even notice!! When they start talking about swimsuit season or dieting or whatever, you just begin talking about what you are doing for summer. For example, you could say "yeah that's great that you are dieting, I am working on my New Year's resolutions now and sort of doing a 'spring cleaning...'" Then start talking about some of the goals you are setting. Some ideas for goals, if you struggle to think of some, can be things like doing something nice for yourself (not food related). Like getting your nails done or spending time journaling or playing with an animal, whatever makes you feel good. You could also do something nice for someone who is close to you. It's a funny thing but we often get just as much out of doing something for someone else as we would if we did it for ourselves. Maybe a goal would be to follow your meal plan for a whole day, or week, or whatever is reasonable for you. Just be easy on yourself, there is no need to create more stress and anxiety.
Let's continue to work on ourselves! This is our own mental spring cleaning. Let's make this year better than the last. After all, we can't have a healthy body without first having a healthy mind. Let's get started and please let me know if some of these ideas work or how you have made it work for you. Let's continue our walk towards a healthy mind and a healthy body.
This video was something that I made due to the amount of feedback that I have received from all of you about the stress and pressure that comes along with summer and swimsuit season. I know that this topic and time of year will always be tricky for us, but there are ways that we can be better prepared for it. First, I want you to consider everything that I say and make sure that you put it into your own words so that when someone asks you about your preparations for summer, you are prepared and comfortable with what you are going to say.
My first tip is to set some goals that you want to achieve by summer. That way when someone asks you how you are preparing for summer you have an answer, and it's not even made up!! Make sure these are small goals that you could achieve each week or so to keep yourself motivated and not add stress to an already stressful time. Remember, this is a progression, this is not perfection. It may even make sense to set a goal to not achieve all of your goals!! I know that sounds crazy, but sometimes when we are perfectionists, it is good to not do it all.
The second tip is to detour the conversation. You have been in conversations with people who do this. You probably didn't even notice!! When they start talking about swimsuit season or dieting or whatever, you just begin talking about what you are doing for summer. For example, you could say "yeah that's great that you are dieting, I am working on my New Year's resolutions now and sort of doing a 'spring cleaning...'" Then start talking about some of the goals you are setting. Some ideas for goals, if you struggle to think of some, can be things like doing something nice for yourself (not food related). Like getting your nails done or spending time journaling or playing with an animal, whatever makes you feel good. You could also do something nice for someone who is close to you. It's a funny thing but we often get just as much out of doing something for someone else as we would if we did it for ourselves. Maybe a goal would be to follow your meal plan for a whole day, or week, or whatever is reasonable for you. Just be easy on yourself, there is no need to create more stress and anxiety.
Let's continue to work on ourselves! This is our own mental spring cleaning. Let's make this year better than the last. After all, we can't have a healthy body without first having a healthy mind. Let's get started and please let me know if some of these ideas work or how you have made it work for you. Let's continue our walk towards a healthy mind and a healthy body.
TALKING to Parents/Friends about Eating Disorders
This week's video is something that I decided to make based on the feedback I have received from all of you. Many of you have asked me for tips on how to talk to your friends or family about your eating disorder. I know that this can be a very stressful time and many of us worry that by talking about our ED, we will only make it worse, but I promise that the more we talk about it, the easier it will be.
Since I often do family sessions, I wanted to make this video as true to life as I could. Instead of talking to the person who is struggling with the ED, I talked to the parents or person who cares for them. The most important thing for a parent or friend to know is that it is not their job to be the "food police." There is no need to ask if she ate enough or if she has maybe eaten too much. Something that I always say is that it is not actually about the food. What an eating disorder is about is a difficulty expressing overwhelming emotions. This should help you focus what kinds of things to talk with your friend or loved one about. For example, ask her how her day was, if she talked to her therapist, how her classes that day were, and most importantly, what else can I do to help. Just knowing that you are there, you try your best to understand, and that you are not judging and watching her every move is all she needs. So try your best to lay off the food questions and just try to ask her how she is doing. We all need love and support, especially when we are struggling with an ED. Let's just try to keep talking about it and keep working towards a healthy mind and a healthy body.
This week's video is something that I decided to make based on the feedback I have received from all of you. Many of you have asked me for tips on how to talk to your friends or family about your eating disorder. I know that this can be a very stressful time and many of us worry that by talking about our ED, we will only make it worse, but I promise that the more we talk about it, the easier it will be.
Since I often do family sessions, I wanted to make this video as true to life as I could. Instead of talking to the person who is struggling with the ED, I talked to the parents or person who cares for them. The most important thing for a parent or friend to know is that it is not their job to be the "food police." There is no need to ask if she ate enough or if she has maybe eaten too much. Something that I always say is that it is not actually about the food. What an eating disorder is about is a difficulty expressing overwhelming emotions. This should help you focus what kinds of things to talk with your friend or loved one about. For example, ask her how her day was, if she talked to her therapist, how her classes that day were, and most importantly, what else can I do to help. Just knowing that you are there, you try your best to understand, and that you are not judging and watching her every move is all she needs. So try your best to lay off the food questions and just try to ask her how she is doing. We all need love and support, especially when we are struggling with an ED. Let's just try to keep talking about it and keep working towards a healthy mind and a healthy body.
Fear of Abandonment - Eating Disorder Video
This week's video comes from a question I received on YouTube. The question had to do with how the fear of abandonment feeds as well as how it is related to our EDs. The first thing I want to acknowledge is that many people who have an ED also have Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). BPD is a disorder that is usually characterized by instability in interpersonal relationships, difficulty with self-image as well as impulsivity. After reading that you can probably see why many people with ED's also have BPD. What I would like to talk about in this particular video is why we have such a fear of abandonment and how we can deal with this fear in a more constructive way.
There are often two ways that we act out due to our fear of abandonment. We will either emotionally black mail the person we are in a relationship with to force them to stay. Or we will leave them before they can leave us. When we emotionally black mail someone, it is almost like we are threatening them. We will say things like "if you leave I will kill myself," or "I will start cutting again if you leave me," etc. When they come running back to us, or say that they have changed their minds, we have blackmailed them into staying. This can be horrible for any relationship, because we know that they would have left and probably still want to, which can feed our fear even more. The second way we deal is by running from them first. This is usually in romantic relationships, but I have had many clients who have run away from friendships as well. We feel that we would rather know when the leaving will happen and so we push people away and move onto the next relationship. In general, we don't really like being alone so it should be easy for you to notice if you tend to run away.
So what do we do about it? Well, the first thing I would like you to do is to make a list of the people who are important to you. I want you to write down why they are important and whether you fear they will leave you or not. Through this journaling you will be able play out your fears without acting on them. Think of this as a safe place to talk about this. The second thing I would like you to do is to keep in touch with those people in your life that are important to you. I know we tend to isolate and withdraw from them when we actually want their love and support. So reach out, keep talking about it and let me know how it goes. Let's keep working towards a healthy mind and a healthy body.
This week's video comes from a question I received on YouTube. The question had to do with how the fear of abandonment feeds as well as how it is related to our EDs. The first thing I want to acknowledge is that many people who have an ED also have Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). BPD is a disorder that is usually characterized by instability in interpersonal relationships, difficulty with self-image as well as impulsivity. After reading that you can probably see why many people with ED's also have BPD. What I would like to talk about in this particular video is why we have such a fear of abandonment and how we can deal with this fear in a more constructive way.
There are often two ways that we act out due to our fear of abandonment. We will either emotionally black mail the person we are in a relationship with to force them to stay. Or we will leave them before they can leave us. When we emotionally black mail someone, it is almost like we are threatening them. We will say things like "if you leave I will kill myself," or "I will start cutting again if you leave me," etc. When they come running back to us, or say that they have changed their minds, we have blackmailed them into staying. This can be horrible for any relationship, because we know that they would have left and probably still want to, which can feed our fear even more. The second way we deal is by running from them first. This is usually in romantic relationships, but I have had many clients who have run away from friendships as well. We feel that we would rather know when the leaving will happen and so we push people away and move onto the next relationship. In general, we don't really like being alone so it should be easy for you to notice if you tend to run away.
So what do we do about it? Well, the first thing I would like you to do is to make a list of the people who are important to you. I want you to write down why they are important and whether you fear they will leave you or not. Through this journaling you will be able play out your fears without acting on them. Think of this as a safe place to talk about this. The second thing I would like you to do is to keep in touch with those people in your life that are important to you. I know we tend to isolate and withdraw from them when we actually want their love and support. So reach out, keep talking about it and let me know how it goes. Let's keep working towards a healthy mind and a healthy body.
Food & Anxiety?! WHAT'S GOING ON? - Eating Disorder Video
I created this video due to some questions that I received from one of my subscribers. She was wondering how to manage anxiety around food. I know that this is something that all of us struggle with from time to time, and I know that many of us will struggle with this throughout our recovery. I encourage you to leave any feedback about what works for you or things that you have used to help manage this!
The first tip that I want to give is to pick "safer" foods when you know that you will be around people or situations that make you extremely anxious. I know that many dietitians would disagree, but as long as you are following your meal plan, I think that it is appropriate to pick something easier at a time like that. We don't want to set ourselves up for failure when we are working so hard to get better.
The second tip is to monitor your anxiety level. 0 being without any anxiety and 10 being so overwhelming that you could scream. When you anxiety begins to climb, maybe around a 5 or 6, use your tools. Call that friend who is so supportive and knows just what to say to help you feel calm, or put on that relaxing music mix that you have created. Just breathe and take your time, give your body time to calm down and for you to reengage.
The last tip is to talk with people at dinner instead of disassociating. I know it is tempting to shut down, isolate, and just get through the meal, but try to keep engaged. You can use your five senses to keep yourself present. What do you smell or hear? Try to use as many of your sense as you need until you feel yourself in the chair and can engage with those you are eating with. It can also help to have a question that you always ask. Like "how was your day?" or "what are your plans for the weekend?" Asking a question that requires more than a yes or no answer can help you fully engage in conversation. This can work the same way that disassociating does, but you are making friends and building relationships at the same time!
Let me know if these tips work or if you can come up with others that also help. Let's continue our walk together towards a healthy mind and a healthy body.
I created this video due to some questions that I received from one of my subscribers. She was wondering how to manage anxiety around food. I know that this is something that all of us struggle with from time to time, and I know that many of us will struggle with this throughout our recovery. I encourage you to leave any feedback about what works for you or things that you have used to help manage this!
The first tip that I want to give is to pick "safer" foods when you know that you will be around people or situations that make you extremely anxious. I know that many dietitians would disagree, but as long as you are following your meal plan, I think that it is appropriate to pick something easier at a time like that. We don't want to set ourselves up for failure when we are working so hard to get better.
The second tip is to monitor your anxiety level. 0 being without any anxiety and 10 being so overwhelming that you could scream. When you anxiety begins to climb, maybe around a 5 or 6, use your tools. Call that friend who is so supportive and knows just what to say to help you feel calm, or put on that relaxing music mix that you have created. Just breathe and take your time, give your body time to calm down and for you to reengage.
The last tip is to talk with people at dinner instead of disassociating. I know it is tempting to shut down, isolate, and just get through the meal, but try to keep engaged. You can use your five senses to keep yourself present. What do you smell or hear? Try to use as many of your sense as you need until you feel yourself in the chair and can engage with those you are eating with. It can also help to have a question that you always ask. Like "how was your day?" or "what are your plans for the weekend?" Asking a question that requires more than a yes or no answer can help you fully engage in conversation. This can work the same way that disassociating does, but you are making friends and building relationships at the same time!
Let me know if these tips work or if you can come up with others that also help. Let's continue our walk together towards a healthy mind and a healthy body.
Laxatives & Diet Pills - Eating Disorder Video
This is a video topic that comes from questions and requests that I have received from one of my subscribers. She wanted to know about diet pills and laxatives and what they do to our bodies when we take them. I want to start by saying that this is not a scare tactic. It is not my goal to ever scare any of you into recovery. Recovery is a difficult process, and I know that staying in our ED's is also difficult. What I wanted to accomplish with this video is to simply share information based on what I have seen and treated, as well as what the research says about it.
Diet pills are everywhere. If you go into any pharmacy or mega store like Target, you will see over fifteen different options. So how do they work, do they harm our bodies, and what are the potential side effects? Well many of them say that they "block fat" from being absorbed correctly. This is a great selling tactic, to tell people that they can eat whatever, but their body will not absorb any of the fat. Wow, right?!? But what they fail to mention is that when it is "blocking" the fat it is also blocking vitamin absorption. So even if we are eating, our bodies are not getting any of the vitamins that it needs. Also, many diet pills have high levels of caffeine, which can increase our heart rate and put added stress on our cardiovascular system. The reason caffeine scares me in diet pills is because it is often more than what you would find in a cup of coffee or a red bull even, it is an extreme amount of caffeine.
Laxatives are something that many of us take when we cannot fully act out on our other ED behaviors in a timely manner, or our ED tells us that we did not do enough of the behavior to "negate" the food we ate. Like diet pills, laxatives are diuretics. That means that it purges our bodies of water. The reason that this is my biggest concern is because we are already throwing up and drinking soda or other caffeinated beverages so our bodies are very dehydrated. When we are dehydrated our bodies are low on potassium and our electrolytes are low and imbalanced. The biggest worry for me is that having these levels be low or imbalanced could cause a heart attack. That is the scariest thing for me and the reason that they say EDs are the most deadly mental disorder. So please be careful when abusing laxatives. Also, laxatives can damage much of your digestive system and eat away at the lining of our stomachs and intestines. That is why we often get such horrible stomach aches and cramping after we take them. They can also damage our colon and rectum. What this means is that it can slowly lose the ability to control our bowels or make our poop solid. I have had 3 clients who have had to have surgery to remove parts of their colons because of the damage done with laxatives. This meant that they had to either stay very close to the bathroom at all times or wear adult diapers. This is a humiliating and horrific side effect and I would hate to see anyone else have that happen. So read the labels, be careful, drink more fluids and maybe eat a banana or two. I know this is hard and it is not my goal to scare anyone, but I care too much to not tell you the truth.
So help me spread the word! Let's share this with more people on our Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or whatever. I am only one voice, but together we can really make a difference. Also, do not hesitate to comment below with your own experiences. If you have information that you think could help someone else, let us know!! And we will keep taking one step at a time to a Healthy Mind and a Healthy Body.
This is a video topic that comes from questions and requests that I have received from one of my subscribers. She wanted to know about diet pills and laxatives and what they do to our bodies when we take them. I want to start by saying that this is not a scare tactic. It is not my goal to ever scare any of you into recovery. Recovery is a difficult process, and I know that staying in our ED's is also difficult. What I wanted to accomplish with this video is to simply share information based on what I have seen and treated, as well as what the research says about it.
Diet pills are everywhere. If you go into any pharmacy or mega store like Target, you will see over fifteen different options. So how do they work, do they harm our bodies, and what are the potential side effects? Well many of them say that they "block fat" from being absorbed correctly. This is a great selling tactic, to tell people that they can eat whatever, but their body will not absorb any of the fat. Wow, right?!? But what they fail to mention is that when it is "blocking" the fat it is also blocking vitamin absorption. So even if we are eating, our bodies are not getting any of the vitamins that it needs. Also, many diet pills have high levels of caffeine, which can increase our heart rate and put added stress on our cardiovascular system. The reason caffeine scares me in diet pills is because it is often more than what you would find in a cup of coffee or a red bull even, it is an extreme amount of caffeine.
Laxatives are something that many of us take when we cannot fully act out on our other ED behaviors in a timely manner, or our ED tells us that we did not do enough of the behavior to "negate" the food we ate. Like diet pills, laxatives are diuretics. That means that it purges our bodies of water. The reason that this is my biggest concern is because we are already throwing up and drinking soda or other caffeinated beverages so our bodies are very dehydrated. When we are dehydrated our bodies are low on potassium and our electrolytes are low and imbalanced. The biggest worry for me is that having these levels be low or imbalanced could cause a heart attack. That is the scariest thing for me and the reason that they say EDs are the most deadly mental disorder. So please be careful when abusing laxatives. Also, laxatives can damage much of your digestive system and eat away at the lining of our stomachs and intestines. That is why we often get such horrible stomach aches and cramping after we take them. They can also damage our colon and rectum. What this means is that it can slowly lose the ability to control our bowels or make our poop solid. I have had 3 clients who have had to have surgery to remove parts of their colons because of the damage done with laxatives. This meant that they had to either stay very close to the bathroom at all times or wear adult diapers. This is a humiliating and horrific side effect and I would hate to see anyone else have that happen. So read the labels, be careful, drink more fluids and maybe eat a banana or two. I know this is hard and it is not my goal to scare anyone, but I care too much to not tell you the truth.
So help me spread the word! Let's share this with more people on our Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or whatever. I am only one voice, but together we can really make a difference. Also, do not hesitate to comment below with your own experiences. If you have information that you think could help someone else, let us know!! And we will keep taking one step at a time to a Healthy Mind and a Healthy Body.
Building a Better Body Image!
I created this video to continue to address the topic of body image. I know that we all struggle with body image issues and constantly put ourselves down. Our ED's yell negative stuff at us all day and anytime someone says something nice, it automatically negates it by telling you why it is a lie. So how do we get it to shut up?!?!?! Well, I will give you two tips to start working on in order to begin building back a more positive body image.
The first tip is something that I have already told many of you to do. That is the post it note tip. The reason that I am in love with post it notes is because they can be stuck anywhere and leave no sticky residue behind. So go get some and let's get started! Start by writing down 5-10 things that you like about yourself. Now I know you cannot think of any right now, but try to think of things that are not body related. We focus enough on our body, let's focus on who we really are inside. Maybe you are great at drawing, maybe you play guitar, maybe you are always on time to appointments and get togethers. Maybe you are really good at painting nails (if this is true I will meet you somewhere so you can show me how, because I am terrible;) ) Whatever it is, write it down. No judgements over this. We are just trying to change the way our mind thinks about us. It won't happen over night, but we do have to start little by little.
Many research studies say that in order to have a happy relationship with someone the ratio of good to bad things said and done should be 5:1. So for every one bad thing said or done to the other, we have to do 5 good things. We are building a new relationship with our bodies, and in order to change it we have to start moving more towards that ratio. I know right now it seems like it is more like 0:50 but we have to start somewhere.
The last tip is to grab your journal and write down the top ten things that you like about yourself. These can be the same things that you put on your post it notes, but I want you to write them down again. It can be helpful to simply write down good things about ourselves. After you do this, I would like you to journal a bit about what it felt like to do that. Did you immediately negate every good thing? Did you criticize your choices and want to erase some of the good qualities you wrote? Just notice how you felt. Secondly, I would like you to find 3 people in your life who are supportive and loving and ask them for 3 things that they like about you. I know this will be weird to do, but just tell them that you are working on yourself, or tell them your therapist told you to do it. I am always fine with my clients blaming me:) Than take some time and journal about how it felt to have the compliments come from someone else. Did it make you angry? Did you feel embarrassed? Did you negate them in your head again? Just notice, and by doing that we know more about what we have to fight against in our body image battle. Because we all know it is a horribly hard fight, but if we keep at it we will win!!
So keep working with me towards a healthy mind, and a healthy body!!
I created this video to continue to address the topic of body image. I know that we all struggle with body image issues and constantly put ourselves down. Our ED's yell negative stuff at us all day and anytime someone says something nice, it automatically negates it by telling you why it is a lie. So how do we get it to shut up?!?!?! Well, I will give you two tips to start working on in order to begin building back a more positive body image.
The first tip is something that I have already told many of you to do. That is the post it note tip. The reason that I am in love with post it notes is because they can be stuck anywhere and leave no sticky residue behind. So go get some and let's get started! Start by writing down 5-10 things that you like about yourself. Now I know you cannot think of any right now, but try to think of things that are not body related. We focus enough on our body, let's focus on who we really are inside. Maybe you are great at drawing, maybe you play guitar, maybe you are always on time to appointments and get togethers. Maybe you are really good at painting nails (if this is true I will meet you somewhere so you can show me how, because I am terrible;) ) Whatever it is, write it down. No judgements over this. We are just trying to change the way our mind thinks about us. It won't happen over night, but we do have to start little by little.
Many research studies say that in order to have a happy relationship with someone the ratio of good to bad things said and done should be 5:1. So for every one bad thing said or done to the other, we have to do 5 good things. We are building a new relationship with our bodies, and in order to change it we have to start moving more towards that ratio. I know right now it seems like it is more like 0:50 but we have to start somewhere.
The last tip is to grab your journal and write down the top ten things that you like about yourself. These can be the same things that you put on your post it notes, but I want you to write them down again. It can be helpful to simply write down good things about ourselves. After you do this, I would like you to journal a bit about what it felt like to do that. Did you immediately negate every good thing? Did you criticize your choices and want to erase some of the good qualities you wrote? Just notice how you felt. Secondly, I would like you to find 3 people in your life who are supportive and loving and ask them for 3 things that they like about you. I know this will be weird to do, but just tell them that you are working on yourself, or tell them your therapist told you to do it. I am always fine with my clients blaming me:) Than take some time and journal about how it felt to have the compliments come from someone else. Did it make you angry? Did you feel embarrassed? Did you negate them in your head again? Just notice, and by doing that we know more about what we have to fight against in our body image battle. Because we all know it is a horribly hard fight, but if we keep at it we will win!!
So keep working with me towards a healthy mind, and a healthy body!!
