It’s the most wonderful time of year . . . unless you struggle with disordered eating or an eating disorder. The holiday season features one soirée after another. From elegant cocktail gatherings to workplace functions to family buffets, the seemingly endless number of food-filled events makes it exceptionally challenging to feel merry if food is your nemesis. Here are some of the challenges you might encounter during the holiday season along with some strategies for how to navigate them.

Self-care can be a wonderful thing. And it’s become an increasingly popular trend, especially as the conversation about mental health awareness and wellness has spread. Maybe you gave it a try, and it did help reduce your worry and stress. But maybe it didn’t really seem to do much. Or maybe it seemed to make things worse. Is that even possible, you might wonder - can self-care actually increase your anxiety in certain cases? If this has been your experience, there are a few reasons why you might be having this reaction. And yes, there are some changes you can make in order to have self-care be more effective for you.

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.