We interviewed Dr. Colleen Reichmann to find out more about what it's like to be a therapist who specializes in eating disorders. Q: Why did you become a therapist? I became a therapist because, quite simply, I wanted to give back! I have struggled with my own mental health issues, and have seen first hand … Continue reading Understanding therapy for eating disorders – an interview with Colleen Reichmann, Psy.D.
Candy is everywhere. Every store, every desk, every place we go seems to be offering up tiny bites of forbidden sweetness. If you're like most people, you studiously forbid yourself from succumbing to the temptation of candy ... most of the time. But there are probably days when you just can't resist, and then you … Continue reading For goodness sake, just eat the damn candy, and let your kids do the same!
Living with a child can sometimes feel like living with a terrorist. And we all know that you shouldn't negotiate with terrorists, right? And when your child has an eating disorder, the negotiations seem bizarre and infuriating. So what's a parent to do? Most of us can see when we're hitting a wall with our … Continue reading Getting to yes when you’re fighting with your child who has an eating disorder
Co-parenting after divorce is a challenging effort for most people. When we have a child who has an eating disorder, these challenges can peak, and we may find ourselves fighting more frequently and struggling with our ex over how we approach treatment for our child. Here are six tips for co-parenting a child who has … Continue reading Co-parenting a child who has an eating disorder – 6 tips
Eating disorders are chronically underfunded, both from a research and a treatment standpoint. Many healthcare providers are ill-equipped to diagnose and treat eating disorders, and many insurance companies will severely limit treatment or deny treatment altogether. This is seriously depressing, especially since we know that eating disorders that are caught and treated early are less … Continue reading How to pay for your child’s eating disorder treatment
Dear Ginny, I have noticed something that really concerns me. When I get together with my grown daughter, she eats a lot of unhealthy food. When she was growing up, she was always on the chubby side, but she dieted a lot and generally kept her weight under control until she hit her thirties. Now … Continue reading Ask Ginny: What can I do when I see my grown daughter binge?
Eating disorders are strongly associated with low self‐esteem and poor body image. [1, 2] Self-esteem and body image must be improved in order to heal fully from an eating disorder because we can't change a behavior until we change the predisposing factors that drive that behavior. [3] If we tell a child that she's beautiful … Continue reading Self-esteem, body image, and eating disorders – what parents can do to help
Diet culture promotes the idea that weight loss is a meaningful, good and healthy pursuit in life. When we recover from an eating disorder, we must work to eradicate the belief that our health and self-worth are based on our weight. This is hard because diet culture is absolutely everywhere. There are a lot of … Continue reading What parents need to know about diet culture and eating disorder recovery
We live in a dangerous time during which parents believe they are responsible for controlling or maintaining their children's weight. Parents believe that if they don't control their children's food intake, their child will become fat, which is considered by many to be a fate worse than death. According to Ellyn Satter, a well-known expert … Continue reading How to feed your child without fear of “bad” food and weight gain
Dear Ginny, My daughter has gained weight with puberty, and her dad is constantly bugging her about it. We divorced over a decade ago, which makes it hard for me to help her since I’m not there for most of the conversations. She has told me that he frequently brings up her body size, and … Continue reading Ask Ginny: Her dad gives her brother seconds, but not her
