Six Strategies to Stop Your Binge–Purge Cycle
In my work as a psychologist specializing in the treatment of bulimia nervosa, I have worked with many who struggle with binging and purging behaviors, in my private practice in Los Angeles and in eating-disorder residential facilities. By the time my clients seek out...
4 Tips for Cutting Down on Your Drinking
As a psychologist who specializes in addiction, in my private practice in Torrance I have worked with many who seek to cut down on their drinking. However, the goal of cutting drinking down is a controversial in the field of addiction medicine. Many of my colleagues...
How to Support Your Partner with Bulimia
Eating disorders are challenging and confusing for many people! This is especially true if they are not experiencing it firsthand. As a psychologist who specializes in the treatment of bulimia nervosa, I have seen dozens of clients in my office in Torrance and heard...
Coping with Suicidal Thoughts
According to recent research, in the United States each year, 34 thousand Americans commit suicide. Worldwide, every 40 seconds someone takes his or her own life. This problem is only getting worse. The rate of suicide has increased by 60% over the last 45 years. Not...
How to Avoid Binge Eating This Holiday Season
Although the holidays are supposed to be a time of joy and celebration, as we approach Thanksgiving, many people feel overwhelmed and anxious. The stress of reconnecting with relatives and feeling trapped in old dysfunctional family patterns, together with the...
Depression: Are You Struggling This Season?
As a psychologist who closely monitors all aspects of my patients’ well-being, over the years I have realized that our environment drastically impacts our moods. Working with my long-term patients, I have learned that depression for some of my clients begins around...
Can Election Anxiety Help Improve Your Mental Health?
Although every presidential election increases anxiety and anger in the American electorate, this election has been one of the most anxiety-provoking ones in the recent history of the United States. A survey conducted by the American Psychological Association in...
Reverse Anorexia: What Is It and How Can It Be Treated?
Reverse anorexia, muscle dysmorphia, or bigorexia are all names for a type of body dysmorphic disorder that is characterized by an intense desire to increase one’s body size. Sufferers of reverse anorexia are constantly preoccupied with eating more food, and they...
Anorexia Treatment: Challenges and Progress
Anorexia nervosa is one of the deadliest mental illnesses and can be one of the most challenging eating disorders to treat. Individuals with anorexia nervosa struggle with dysfunctional behaviors and thoughts about food and weight, which are accompanied by negative...
Orthorexia: The New Eating Disorder
What is Orthorexia? Orthorexia is an eating disorder that was first recognized by the American physician Dr. Bratman in 1997. It is defined as an excessive obsession with healthy eating. Sufferers of orthorexia have a pathological fixation on eating pure food and feel...
Fitness Goals: How You Can Set and Achieve Them?
Each year, around the New Year, my social media accounts are inundated with posts from friends and family about their new fitness goals. Although it seems like each person made almost an identical post the previous year, they list the number of reasons why this year...
How to Create a Healthy Diet and Avoid an Eating Disorder for Your Child
Childhood obesity is a health concern and source of frustration for many families throughout the United States. A recent study conducted by the Center for Health Statistics found that one in five children in America are now overweight. This number has tripled over the...
How Are You Protecting Your Child from the Deadliest of Mental Disorders?
Eating disorders are one of the deadliest mental health disorders. Living and practicing in Los Angeles, I work on a daily basis with many driven parents whose lives are dedicated to providing their children with the best chance of having of successful life. These...
Alcoholism: A Guide To Overcoming and Stopping Drinking
I’ve known Alison since I was five years old. Her family were our next-door neighbors, and all my life I looked up to her as my older sister. She is a bright and intelligent woman who had a graduate degree when she was only twenty-two and had started her own company...
Anorexia: What Is It and How Can It Be Treated?
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by food restrictions combined with an intense fear of gaining weight and becoming overweight. Often, the fear of gaining weight does not decrease as the weight decreases. In a majority of cases, these fears even...
Pornography Addiction: What Is It and How Can It Be Treated?
Porn addiction is an excessive and uncontrollable appetite for pornography, with or without masturbation, that negatively impacts one’s qualify of life. It is a form of process addiction, similar to addictions to gambling, food, and the Internet. Such addictions often...
Bulimia Nervosa: What Is It and How Can It Be Treated?
Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder that impacts almost 2% of young women in America. Although men also struggle with it, the current literature notes a ten-to-one ratio of females to males who are diagnosed with this psychiatric condition. Individuals struggling...
How to Stop Binge Eating
According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), 1.6% of adult Americans struggle with Binge Eating Disorder. Although many of my clients are not in the clinical range for a diagnosis of Binge Eating Disorder, their compulsive eating habits significantly...
What Can Parents Do to Prevent Eating Disorders in Teens?
The onset of eating disorders usually occurs during the teenage years. If left untreated they can become severe or even life threatening. Mortality rates for teens with eating disorders are 12 times higher than the average for that age group, for all causes of death....
What is Binge Eating Disorder?
We live in a weight-obsessed society and we are constantly bombarded by talk of fat in media and our communities. Some people use the term “binge eating” when they deviate from their restrictive diets by only two slices of pizza. Once I heard a friend call eating a...