Scribblings of a Psychotherapist

#MondayMotivation This week's #MondayMotivation focuses on 'The Tricky Brain'. We often talk about this in therapy and counselling and it can really help clients to see that many of the problems they blame themselves for are not their fault: the old part of our brain hasn't kept up and presents us with all sort of problems. Basically, the hardware and software in certain parts of our brain haven't updated, through no fault of our own, making things quite tricky for us, especially when it comes to anxiety, worry, panic and stress. So, parts of the brains operating system, built to help us many 1000s of year ago haven't updated, yet we still live our lives according to that old, outdated operating system. If you don't update your phone or laptop, it starts causing problems over time, right? Certain parts of the brain are the same. However, we can't reach into the brain and tinker about with those parts that haven't evolved so well, can we? No. But we

#FridayFacts Men and boys and anyone identifying with other genders experience eating disorders and disordered eating too.   We really need to stop leaving out non-females and other genders from the conversation. Why? Because to do so means we are discriminating against others, developing 'female-friendly' services only and perpetuating a very biased and unrepresentative picture of eating disorders. This means lots of people are don't have their voice heard and don't receive support and understanding.   Here at Talking EDs, we see males and those identifying with other genders, of all ages and backgrounds who experience a range of eating disorders and disordered eating.   As humans, we all eat after all. So why wouldn't eating disorder/disordered eating affect non-females and those identifying with other genders. I personally find it puzzling why so many people are left our of the eating disorders/disordered eating conversation.   Eating disorders do not discriminat