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Anxiety and the Pandemic: How you can understand and help yourself

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Category: Psychotherapy and Recovery Work

Anxiety and Stress during a Pandemic

We are not living in ordinary times. Anxiety grows. Our reasonable adaptations for stress may not serve us well when stressors comes every day and sometimes ever hour. We suffer emotionally when the stability of our economics, our politics, our relationships, our health, our physical safety and the safety of those we love is continually threatened. Finding balance and reasonableness can be difficult or impossible. 

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Anxiety, Binge Eating, Intimacy Issues: The Fire Alarm Is Not the Fire

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Category: Symptoms

                       The alarm is not the fire.


Symptoms such as binge eating, anxiety issues and eating disorder behaviors are alarms.

Stopping the anxiety or binge eating alarm without addressing what’s causing the alarm to sound off accomplishes little or nothing. It also can be dangerous because the metaphoric fire continues to burn and may increase in ferocity.

When a fire alarm goes off the problem is not the sound of the alarm.  The problem is the fire. The deeper problem is the cause of the fire.

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Perfection, Restricting and Eating Disorders

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Category: Food and Weight

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Perfection as Safety through Restricting Food

In early recovery work I see my clients struggle with their perfection issues. Regardless of the particular disorder (bulimia, anorexia, compulsive overeating or binge eating, restricting) the desire for perfection is usually present.

When a person is anxious and frightened  she may need to focus on how she can control her shape and size by restricting her food.  An ever present eating need to restrict she hopes will soothe, numb and distract her from her suffering. She can aso be thrilled to get smaller because her perception of being thin, small, tiny is her fantasy of the ultimate place of safety.

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Restore Balance during Binge Eating, Restricting and Anxiety Relapse

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Category: Healing Resources

Return of binge eating, restricting and pervasive anxiety: a call to grow

Waking up with anxiety feel compelled to binge eat days, weeks, months or even years after being free of the behaviors and desire to act out is shocking. If this is you you may be feel disheartened, weak, frightened and uncertain of your worth as a person. 

You not only experience this anxious state in the present. You remember all your past experiences, the trials you thought you healed yourself out of with psychotherapy, group work, reading, 12 step, maybe residential treatment. Was it all for nothing?

Understanding the cause of your reaching for your old coping style and what you need to restore your balance helps you through this challenge. Pay attention to this call and you can move into a healthier, stronger and more satisfying way of living than you ever had before.