 "I was able 'to sit' with my feelings and emotions. I no longer have the need to binge or purge this emotions" shared my client who worked through their Eating disorders. Eating disorders can be difficult to understand unless you have been through one. Most people is aware of anorexia or bulimia however, there are many types of eating disorders that you might not hear yet; such as AFRID (Avoidance/restricted Food Intake Disorder). Diagnosis for eating disorders can be very complicated too because the overlapping symptoms and possibly it moves between symptoms at different point of your life. If you are experiencing some symptoms of eating disorders (some key ones: extreme anxiety around eating, avoidance or restriction of certain foods, or binge eating) - you know, it is not your fault! In fact, in many cases, it could be in your genes; studies on eating disorders suggest about 50% of the risk is attributed to genetic factors. Eating disorder are known to be caused by a combination of various factors such genetic, temperamental, such as personality traits as well as external influences such as trauma, cultural idea, social pressure or other mental health conditions. Anxiety, loneliness and depression and feeling lack of control and low self-esteem can be the red flags for eating disorders. However, the most common connection between people with eating disorders comprises of difficulties in expressing and coping with emotions or feelings. The link between emotion avoidance and eating disorders Emotion avoidance can be described as behaviours that are intended to suppress any emotional response from taking a place such as anger, sadness, fear, anxiety or loneliness. Individuals affected with eating disorders tend to seek refuge in continuous eating or stop eating as an unconscious effort to cope with the situation and feel better. People use eating disorder to numb their emotions, and it is often negative emotions and trauma, especially trauma they haven't addressed in healthy way or come to term with . For example, for many people suffering with anorexia tend to restrict their food intake when they experience feelings of loneliness and sadness, because this gives them a sense of control of the situation - it is a false sense control. For people struggling with binge eating and purging is often associated with impulse control when upset and food offers feeling of comfort and relief. Many people struggling binge eating and purging tend to use food as distraction from their difficult feelings and worries of the real world. It's important to notice the subtle signs of binge eating disorder, including hoarding food, or a person showing regret after bingeing an abnormal amount of food. You may also take note of empty food wrappers or even hidden food containers, if the person is concealing their over-eating behaviours. However, one thing that almost all my clients with eating disorders have in common is difficulty in expressing, processing and coping with their difficult emotions.  Treatment Eating disorders treatment involves a variety of tools and strategies for helping patients to recover and improve their quality of lives. One important element is helping them to learn how to identify and process their emotions, sit with these emotions, not to avoid aversive emotional state. More so, patients with eating disorders are also not competent in correctly identifying emotions and are not able to respond to feeling overwhelmed from emotional distress. Some treatments could be correcting growth and managing nutrients, trying to become more comfortable eating in front of others, becoming less fearful of chocking or vomiting. Try to increase your interests in food and trying to reduce anxiety surrounding eating. For example, for younger children, a therapy called desensitisation therapy is often used to help very young children. It involves something know as the 'playtime' approach which tries to help the child feel comfortable with the feel, smell and sight of foods. Another type of therapy is known as exposure which is used to help remove the fear of anxiety attached to food. This involves relaxation techniques, writing and talking about the avoided foods that generally seem to negatively impact the individual. Learning positive coping skills for the fear and anxiety surrounding food. CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) is a very common type of therapy in many disorders and mental health-related issues and having unhealthy thoughts and behaviour patterns are sometimes the root of where the eating disorder comes from. CBT helps individuals identify and change self-destructive patterns of thought and behaviour. Another therapy includes Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) is another form of talk therapy and is commonly used for eating disorders treatment. DBT helps people try to live mindfully and being able to cope effectively with negative sensations and emotions.  Getting Help
It is therefore, necessary to share with patients that their eating disorders behaviours are often a coping mechanisms that they are facilitating to try to regulate their emotions. These behaviours may have helped them to get through some difficulties and traumatic experiences, however, these are temporary. The key is to try to reach our for help from your family, friends, or professionals such as doctor/GP or seeing a counsellor/therapist would be beneficial as they can help with eating disorder and the anxiety arounds it. With treatment, support and family, people with eating disorders can learn how to understand their relationship with themselves, food and their body. Finally, part of living a meaningful life is being able to experience all of emotions, both pleasant and unpleasant.
0 Comments
The current pandemic is leaving many of us anxious and worried. Uncertainty and the unknown shake our basic life routines, we loose our life structures, leaving us feeling confused and lost. Confusion and loss can create a negative imagination and this is fear. The fear of contagion and the virus can impact on our psychological responses. Right now, we know Covid-19 has separated us, divides families, jobs, and cities; stripping our existence as social human being. Our lives has been disrupted in body, mind and spirit. Coronavirus has occupied our thinking, in news, radio, tv and social media, with frighting death statistics and daily updates. This constant exposure of news can result in heightened anxiety with an immediate effect on our mental health. The constant feeling of threat can deeply effect our psychology response. The fear of contagion may lead us to become over-anxious and less accepting of the 'normal' such as being tactile, hugging or visiting others. Our moral judgement becomes harsher and our social attitudes more conservative during these times. Outcries on social media and news outlets show that people are more ready to judge and condemn behaviour that until yesterday was 'normal' - it is amazing how quickly the jump to the new moralising behaviour becomes. Sadly, researchers have found that stigma has worsened the suffering from every major infectious disease epidemic in our human history, and no doubt, it will certainly play a role in current Covid-19 pandemic. Remember when AIDS and HIV occurred among us, who were the group of people we judged and discriminated against? Stigma is an evolutionary response that our mindset has ingrained to our physical response: we will distance ourselves from others who could infect us. This whole suite of response is called 'parasite avoidance' , defensive strategies to prevent ourselves from contracting infection disease (reducing infection risk). The reactions are what make us feel threatened by signals of sickness, such as coughing, vomiting or sneezing; whether or not these signals indicate an actual threat to our own health. Since humans are social beings that have evolved to live in big groups, 'parasite avoidance' modifies our interaction with people when infections occur to minimise the spread of the disease, resulting spontaneous social distancing.
The response could be quite harsh!. Gender stereotypes and why suicide is higher among men. Google image Some of us are perhaps still shocked and heartbroken by the death of Rock Legend, Chester Bennington, the singer from Linken Park, Avicii, Swedish EDM DJ. Chester committed suicide by hanging himself in his private home, alone. When I read this, I felt deeply sad. I didn't know Chester, of course, but something more than that made me feel overwhelmed by the news, - it triggered the memory of my friend Alex who, like Chester, committed suicide at his home, nearly 3 years ago. Still fresh in my memory, when I last spoke to him, he seemed in good form, in a good spirits, smiling and laughing. It never crossed my mind that it was the last time I would see him. A few weeks later, he was gone. I knew he was struggling with depression and drug addiction, and he was seeking help from professionals, but obviously it was not enough!. I wish I could have helped him more but when I asked him at that time he said he was 'doing fine and ok'. "Often it's the loudest voice in the room, the life and soul of the party, that is really struggling"Can a relationship survive after cheating?"If the feeling is mutual, the effort will be equal" "Can a relationship survive after cheating?" is the most common question after infidelity has occurred, yet is not easy to get the answer. It's more than, whether anyone can answer this question. However, counselling for infidelity or well known as cheating is not uncommon.
Many relationships or marriages do not survive infidelity because the trust has been broken and forgiveness is hard. Most of the time, the infidelity occurs when one of the partners (aware or not aware) feels dissatisfaction in their relationship, or one of the partners feels dissatisfaction in themselves. However, there are many other reasons for cheating, and they may have very little to do with the relationship, the attitudes, appearances or the behaviours of either spouse. Let's look at a positive way of repairing your relationship and to build the trust that has been broken after the infidelity. The first step is to involve your partner who has been offended by the infidelity, to attempt to bridge the gaps that have been developed. Benefits of Mung Beans and recipeOur mental wellbeing is described as mental state - This is, how we are feeling and how well we can cope with day to day life. Our mental health is dynamic, it changes from moment to moment, day to day, or week to week and so on and so forth. Whilst our mental health is needed to be dealt by a trained professional, there are many things you can DO to promote your mental wellbeing. We often fail to remember that food has a major role in the development of our mental wellbeing.
Toxic Relationship And Mental HealthRelationships are one of the most important aspects of our lives, yet we often forget how crucial our connections with other people are for our physical, mental health and wellbeing. Now, our society is more conscious about health than ever before, and we are paying increased attention to nutrition labels, fitness and wellbeing, organic alternatives, toxin-free environments and lots more. And yet, many health-conscious people don't realise that the quality of their relationship can be just as toxic to their health as fast food or a toxic environment. In fact, unhealthy relationship can turn into a toxic internal environment that can lead to stress, depression, anxiety and even medical problems.
We long for connection, and often this longing can lead us to settle for less than healthy relationships. Even worse, we may be so hungry to belong, or desperate to connect that we continue in toxic relationships when they are actually ruining our lives and happiness. It's not the number of friends you have, and it's not whether or not you're in a committed relationship, but it's the quality of your close relationship that matters. The Connection Between Mental Illness and Substance AbuseArticle written by Patrick Bailey - Freelancer Writer. Awareness of the connection of substance abuse and mental health illness is currently increasing as more and more people are seeking help from these disorders. It is a general knowledge that substance abuse is a life-wrecking issue that has destroyed the lives of many people and has caused the economy a hefty amount of money. As a result of the destructive nature of substance abuse, many health advocates discovered that substance abuse also triggers mental illnesses like depression. Several drugs found to be psychoactive have revealed a direct link to mental diseases like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Substance abuse and mental diseases are prevalent issues that our society is currently facing. These two constantly intersect from various angles. These destructive issues work together to create a miserable and most often inescapable suffering cycle.
Why I Can't Sleep At Night ...Having trouble sleeping is not uncommon. According to the NHS , one in every three people in the UK have problem sleeping.  Google image Difficulty of getting to sleep or staying asleep for a long enough to feel fresh the next morning is called insomnia. Insomnia is one of the most common sleep problems that affects many adults and children worldwide. There are many possible causes of insomnia ranging from lifestyle to mental health issues.
People who go without their normal amount of sleep, lack of concentration or affect their mood that may lead to relationship problems with family, friends and colleagues. Fighting your fear of flying Back in 2014, my brother and his wife were planning to attend our wedding here in the UK. They bought their flight tickets from Jakarta-Heathrow, arranged UK visa and was approved. My brother was excited and so was I.
On the day of departure, they were all set to the airport, suitcases were packed, and ready to board. Then my sister-in-law, started to get a panic attack, then the panic attack worsened as the time for boarding was nearer. The airline was calling their names to be boarded , but my sister in law was crying hard, held tight to her chair, and struggled to breathe. My brother had to get help from the paramedic, at this point. Then the plane flew without them. They lost the chance of holiday and not able to attend my wedding, moreover - non-refundable tickets! Amazing countryside and ancient history  So often, when people asked me where I am from, (apart from Indonesia), I answered "I'm from Exeter", and instantly I got this puzzled face. I then said again, slowly in case they misunderstood my pronunciation "Exeter". Still puzzled.
Then I said "It's in Devon, South West of England, near Cornwall" (and of course it is nowhere near Conrwall!), then some of them would say "ahhh" still sounded unsure where it is, or some of them would say " oh ya, I know - it's near Plymouth right" - wrong! but it's closer than Cornwall. Only few of them know where Exeter is, mostly people had been studied at its famous University, University of Exeter. If you haven't been to Exeter, or if you are still wondering where you would spend a nice and cosy weekend, with the flavour of country side yet still within a city vibe, I recommend you come and visit Exeter. |
Archives
January 2023
Misma Hemming
|
RSS Feed
Locations:
|
|