Meandering Thoughts of a Psychologist

After watching the Princess Diana movie yesterday, I’ve been thinking about her behavior and how someone in the psychology field might diagnose her. Diana was known to have a history of bulimia and self-injury (cutting behavior), and in the movie she demonstrated what appeared to be some manipulative behaviors and even described herself as “stalking” a partner at one point. On the flip side, Diana was also known to be one of the most empathic, loving, and generous women in the world. This complex assessment of an individual – someone who would likely be diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, but also having a Mother Teresa type influence...is an interesting dichotomy for sure. While in graduate school, I really enjoyed the conversations I had with Dr. Cook-Cottone, my mentor. Two conversations I had with her helped me to maybe understand Princess Diana’s story a little better. First of all, I remember that Dr. Cook-Cottone refrained from diagnosing individuals with ...

I asked my husband (via email) the following question about my blog this morning on the challenges of eating disorder recovery: "Do you think my blog I posted today was too personal? I wanted to give an accurate account of recovery...for me anyway." His response: "I think this blog is supposed to be however you want it to be.  If voicing your opinion about things you will need to avoid helps you with coping, then I think you were right in writing what you did.  This blog is a sounding board, and a tool that you have created to help yourself, as well as help others.    You have an amazing perspective that I can never truly understand, but can only hope to help you to the best of my abilities during our journey together.  I am always here for you, and I have come to understand that while I feel I know you inside and out, I can only know you from the point at which we met, and forward. I will never be able to understand what pain and trauma you have expe...

In the past 6 years of being what I refer to as “fully recovered” from an eating disorder, I have been fortunate. My thoughts about my body and my eating habits have been positive – more positive than I ever thought possible. Recovery for everyone looks different, but my final phase of being “fully recovered” vs. being in "recovery" was defined by my view of exercise. I began to finally understand exercise as a means to move, celebrate, and strengthen my body rather than a way to control it. My husband made a comment tonight during dinner that briefly caused me to question all of this and scared the hell out of me to be perfectly honest…not because of the specific content of his message, but because of the way my mind twisted this information into something unhealthy. Our brains become wired a certain way as a result of things that we think over and over again…oftentimes triggered by a combination of our environments (society’s influence/family influence) and genetics (per...

My 31 st Birthday is this Friday, and so it seems like a perfect time for a little self reflection – a glimpse back at my life over the years and who I’ve become.   As women, we tend to struggle with growing older…what that looks like…what that means. Last Saturday night, as we gathered with some neighbors for a little happy hour, I was reminded of what life was like in my 20s. As I sat with my daughter bouncing on my lap, a few couples who are friends with our neighbors joined the crowd. The girls were beautiful – the typical kind of socially prescribed beauty – long thin legs, short dresses, high heels, long Blonde flowing hair. The kind of women that make you want to cover your husband’s eyes. We stayed for a short while and then left to attend a local high school’s booster club silent auction, and we said our goodbyes to the young crew who planned to later depart on a party bus to Washington, D.C. for the evening. On occasions like this, the thoughts that were fore...

  This absolutely breaks my heart --- can we all just agree that the war on childhood obesity has gone too far?! These are children and the fact that Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta thought this was okay to advertise absolutely disgusts me! I support a “healthy” approach to living, but this does not include shaming individuals for their size – ESPECIALLY CHILDREN! Isn’t there enough bullying in schools without ads like these encouraging children to judge others based on their physical appearance?! NEWS FLASH parents – it is absolutely normal for children to gain weight prior to puberty – and it is ABSOLUTELY NOT HEALTHY to encourage children to diet. If you are concerned about your child’s weight, encourage moderate exercise (3 days per week) and increase intake of fruits and vegetables. DO NOT tease them about their weight and DO NOT encourage dieting! Children should not grow up fearing the consequences of eating pizza, desserts, and other high calorie foods....