In the wake of the premiere on Netflix of another eating disorder film, my friend, JD Ouellette, reminded me that the frustration over another stereotypical narrative about eating disorders could provide an opportunity. At the NEDA Conference in 2014, both JD and I (as well as many other attendees) were impressed by Tchaiko Omawale’s sharing …
In my work with patients who have anxiety and/or depression, I often recommend a consultation with a psychiatrist regarding medication. I believe in the value of psychotherapy; that’s why I became a (non-prescribing) psychologist. However, I find the careful use of psychiatric medications as a helpful aid to psychotherapy. For best results, you must communicate …
Weight bias is a preference for thinness. In the words of psychologist Ashley Solomon, Psy.D., CEDS, “Weight bias is insidiously interwoven into the fabric of our culture.” Like many of us, I grew up in a family that possesses a great deal of weight bias. When I gained weight just before puberty my mother …
By Elisha Carcieri, Ph.D., Staff Psychologist “A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow.” Charlotte Bronte Sleep Self-Monitoring In our self-obsessed culture, monitoring and tracking heartbeat, steps, exercise, food intake, and sleep is commonplace. My sister has recently been tracking her sleep using an app on her smartphone, and she encouraged me to do it too. …
The Eating Disorder SIG (EDSIG) is an active group of Los Angeles County Psychological Association (LACPA) professionals interested in eating disorders, body image, and related issues. The group, founded in 2012, by Stacey Rosenfeld, Ph.D., is now led by Lauren Muhlheim, Psy.D. Through presentations and discussion, the EDSIG helps LACPA members explore the field of …
This summer (2016) I read the novel Dietland by Sarai Walker. It’s rare to find a novel that is both relevant and sensitive to the concerns of my patients, rarer still one that features a main character in a large body whose happiness is not predicated upon successfully losing weight. I found the book so …
![Authors of Scope of Competence for Eating Disorder Treatment with reviewer, Dr. Portney [Image description: Alli, Dr. Portney, and Dr. Muhlheim at ICED 2016]](https://www.eatingdisordertherapyla.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/IMG_6870-1024x768.jpg)
Is Your Therapist Competent to Treat Your Eating Disorder? When my friend and colleague, Alli Spotts-De Lazzer, M.A., MFT, LPCC, CEDS, asked me to join her in writing an article on competence for therapists treating eating disorders, I jumped at the opportunity. Psychotherapists are ethically bound to treat within their scope of competence. Yet how …
To the long list of desperate and dangerous weight loss products, we can now add the AspireAssist, sadly approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week. The device is marketed as a “minimally invasive” and “reversible” weight loss “solution” for “people with obesity.” Essentially, an aspiration tube is inserted into the patient’s …
Body Comments: When Is It OK To Comment On Another Person’s Body? Spoiler Alert: Never! By Elisha Carcieri, Ph.D., staff psychologist As a relatively new mom of an 11-month-old, I’m on the tail end of almost two years of a complete metamorphosis. In nine months my body grew to accommodate another human, delivered that human …
Two experiences this week inspired this blog post. The first occurred when I passed a billboard for Soylent while driving through Hollywood. The billboard read, “Juice is sweet; Soylent is complete.” My initial thought was that consuming Soylent would just be depressing. Soylent is a “nutritionally complete, ready-to-drink, meal in a bottle” developed by engineers. …