Did you know that distractions, if used thoughtfully and intentionally, can be therapeutically helpful and can be used to your advantage? It’s true! In fact, scientists confirm the positive utility of deliberate, purposeful distraction. Here are 60 ideas to get you started.

Many people think the self-help genre is the only category which could potentially be effectual in terms of enhancing mental health and well-being. This just isn’t true! In reality, there are several reasons you should consider stepping out of the self-improvement aisle. You might even be surprised to learn that FICTION might be the best thing to read when you’re feeling anxious or depressed.

A lot of people who come to me for counseling experience symptoms of anxiety and/or depression. Some have been told the root cause is a biochemical imbalance. However, I have discovered that, most of the time, this simply isn’t true. Usually, we come to agree that one or more of the following 8 habits is usually contributing to their distress:

Binge Eating Disorder is a very common problem. There can be a multitude of factors at play if you find yourself binge eating including physiological reasons, environmental factors, social components, nutritional reasons, emotional drivers, genetic predispositions, trauma history, etc. There is no singular reason why a person binge eats - and thus it follows that is no singular solution. Yet, while there is not any one simple trick you can employ to experience relief, there are many interventions which in combination are known to be highly effectual.

In general, few people meet the daily nutritional needs of their body. If you’re diagnosed with an eating disorder there’s a high probability that you are missing out on a few, possibly even many, micronutrients. Your brain and body can be helped, or harmed, depending on what you’re eating (or, in many cases, not eating). Take, for example, B12 - a Vitamin B12 deficiency has been implicated when it comes to the development of depression.

There is evidence demonstrating that an eating disorder may negatively impact your sleep and, also, disturbances in sleep can exacerbate eating disorder symptoms. As such, during eating disorder treatment, it can be critical to your overall recovery to consider how you’re sleeping.

An urge to binge eat can feel overwhelming. In the moment, the urge feels insurmountable and intolerable. While stopping binge eating might seem impossible, urge surfing can help. Learn to ride the wave and begin recovering from binge eating.

“Physicians and the general public have had this long-term belief that midlife women are somehow immune to eating disorders. That’s just not true.” In fact, more and more women who are middle aged or older are reaching out for help with disordered eating – with numbers only continuing to rise.

Everyone is expecting you to be merry and thankful. And while you may certainly experience joy during the season, you may also be feeling a lot of other emotions - everything from worry to grief to anger. It’s suddenly not the most wonderful time of the year.