jrust July 1st, 2009
The Chinese symbol for “intention” is composed two distinct characters. The upper character means “present“ and the lower character means “heart“.
This morning I received a wonderful newsletter article from my friend, Donald Altman. I read it and read it again and I immediately saw the connection with my previous blog on “having a practice.”
“Intentions may be harmful, beneficial, or neutral in what they produce. Intentions are the seeds you plant to produce the eventual yield of your life. When repeated time and time again, the grooves created by intention turn into a habit. Habit then shapes your brain, your character, and life. The problem comes when intentions are unconscious or unheeded, and you are not the master of intentionality. One good easy way to create intentionality is to simply practice it. Set intentions throughout the day for breathing, walking, sitting, standing, driving, and talking.”
–Donald Altman, MA
Eating disorder recovery would be so simple if all we had to do was set our intentions throughout the day and then honor the intentions we have set. I would like all of my patients begin the day by setting their intentions with regards to food. They would set an intention to eat whole foods, in a healthy way, following their meal plans, and they would set their intentions for dealing with stress throughout the day.
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Tags: eating disorder recovery, intentionality, intentions, spiritual practice, spirituality
edrecovery June 28th, 2009
The sad truth is that only 32% of all people who have had eating disorder treatment are still in recovery after one year. Many people spend thousands of dollars and months of their lives on treatment and still don’t recover. As soon as one of those pesky, high-risk situations comes along, the person has a setback and soon is in full relapse. Conversations with former patients highlight the difficulties they experience after treatment.
There are a number of strategies that can help prevent relapse, but one of the most successful is to develop a spiritual practice. Spiritual practice can provide a rock-solid foundation for recovery.
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Tags: eating disorder, relapse prevention, spiritual practice, spirituality and health
edrecovery June 15th, 2009
I had the good fortune to work at another eating disorder treatment program in the early 1990s. I learned a lot about eating disorders, and I saw first hand what I liked and didn’t like about treatment! Later, when I was in private practice, my clients included many young women who were athletes at the University of Arizona. I couldn’t help noticing how many of them went into treatment over the summer only to relapse once they returned to school in the fall.
At that time I was working on my PhD at Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center in San Francisco. While studying Clinical Behavioral Medicine, I was introduced to concept of stress-related illness. It didn’t take long to recognize that many illnesses — including eating disorders — were the result of chronic stress. I knew then that an effective eating disorder treatment program would have to offer much more than traditional psychotherapy.
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Tags: chronic stress, eating disorder relapse, eating disorder treatment, stress-related illness
edrecovery June 3rd, 2009
Biological Theories and the Development of an Eating Disorder
One of the questions that seems to arise again and again is, “My aunt and my mother had an eating disorder.
- Is it hereditary?
- Am I at risk?
The high incidence of eating disorders in families has led researchers to think that there might be a genetic influence in the development of them. Studies have shown that 58% to 76% of the occurrence of anorexia nervosa can be attributed to genetic factors.
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Tags: anorexia, eating disorders, genetic predisposition, heredity
edrecovery June 3rd, 2009
A recent article in a British journal, The Haringey Independent, documents the tragic story of yet another young woman who lost her life because the hospital where she sought treatment failed to connect the dots between seriously low body weight and a history of alcohol abuse.
Tags: alcohol abuse, anorexia, medical mistakes
edrecovery June 2nd, 2009
The Wikipedia Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) from Gary Craig and Wikipedia definitely put Emotional Freedom Techniques in the alternative medicine and energy psychology arena or what some people would refer to as “woo-woo”. I might have thought the same myself of Emotional Freedom Techniques except I had the good fortune to attend Gary Craig’s first training session in the mid-1990s.
The underlying philosophy of Emotional Freedom Techniques rests with the belief that negative emotions are caused by disturbances in the body’s energy field.As a person thinks about a disturbing memory or emotion and simultaneously taps on a series of 12 specific pressure points on the body, he or she is helped to free himself or herself from such disturbing thoughts through altering the body’s energy field, thus restoring it to “balance.”
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Tags: eating disorder treatment, EFT, emotional freedom techniques, energy psyshology
edrecovery June 1st, 2009
I read a newsletter the other day about how knitting can help alleviate anxiety for patients in an eating disorder treatment center. According to a study published in Eating and Weight Disorders: Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity, “theoretical and empirical evidence suggests that performing a concurrent visuospatial task reduces the emotional intensity of distressing images.” To determine whether a “visuospatial” task like knitting could reduce the anxious preoccupation experienced by anorexics, the researchers provided knitting lessons and free supplies to 38 women who were being treated for anorexia in a specialized eating disorder unit.
They found that 74% of the women reported that knitting lessened the intensity of their fears and thoughts and cleared their minds of eating disorder preoccupations. An equal number reported it had a calming and therapeutic effect, and 53% reported it provided satisfaction, pride and a sense of accomplishment.
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Tags: anxiety reduction, eating disorders, knitting
edrecovery May 31st, 2009
The wonderful newsletter that edreferral publishes every month had some very interesting new research on the differences between women with and without eating disorders. Responses to 25 questions about body image, eating, self-esteem, general psychology were collected in 2002-2003 (N=268) and 2005-2006 (N=472). Wilk’s lambda was used to test discrimination.
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edrecovery May 30th, 2009
I found this journal article which I believe speaks for itself and which lists five ways to help prevent obesity and eating disorders in adolescents. Mind you, I agree with most of this AND I believe that family dynamics play an exceedingly important role in this population!
Preventing Obesity and Eating Disorders in Adolescents: What Can Health Care Providers Do? by Diane Neumark-Sztainer, Journal of Adolescent Health, (March, 2009).
This article describes five research-based recommendations for health care providers to help prevent both obesity and eating disorders among adolescents that they see within clinical, school, or other settings. The recommendations are based primarily upon findings from Project EAT, a large, population-based study of eating and weight-related issues in adolescents.
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edrecovery May 30th, 2009
I encourage everyone to watch this video — I was quite impressed but I’m not ready to be vegan yet!
Let me know what you all think!!