When you have an eating disorder, it's helpful to avoid situations that focus on diet culture, weight loss, food fear, and exercise addiction. Unfortunately, Thanksgiving is a national holiday that brings out all of these cultural tendencies. As a food-based event, Thanksgiving puts those of us who have/had eating disorders at risk of exposure to … Continue reading Family scripts for an eating disorder friendly Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving and other holidays can be very stressful for people who have eating disorders. Often when families get together, the first thing they talk about is dieting and body size. It's a national obsession and is even more prevalent on a food-based holiday. If you have a child who has an eating disorder, it's important … Continue reading How to make Thanksgiving eating disorder friendly
There is a strong link between being depressed, having an eating disorder, and being female in a western industrialized country. Here are some facts about these conditions: 1. Females are twice as likely as males to be depressed, and the vast majority of eating disorder patients are female. 2. The depression sex difference emerges at … Continue reading The link between depression, eating disorders, and being female in western industrialized cultures
It's easy to get caught up in the behaviors of eating disorders. We can obsess over a child's eating patterns, exercise, and body weight. But the real thing we need to be looking at is their thought patterns because their thoughts underlie the behaviors. People who have eating disorders often exhibit 10 common cognitive (thinking) … Continue reading 10 cognitive (thinking) distortions that support eating disorder behaviors
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?
