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Do You Know Someone Who Is Being Abused?

Susan Folwell — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:35:14 +0000

Do you know or suspect that someone you know is in an abusive relationship? Do you often wonder what you can do to help? Your support and encouragement can be of great value to a friend, acquaintance, coworker, neighbor who is involved in an abusive relationship.

You can ease the isolation and loss of control your friend or family member may be feeling by listening, providing information on abuse and domestic violence, and helping to explore options.

Read Family and Friends’ Guide to Domestic Violence: How to Listen, Talk, and Take Action When Someone You Care About is Being Abused, by Elaine Weiss.

What can you do?

Become informed about abuse and violence in intimate partner relationships.
Lend a sympathetic ear, keep an open mind, and do not assign blame.
Learn about community services and share the knowledge privately with your friend or family member.
Provide (when needed and appropriate): transportation, babysitting, a safe telephone to use, computer access, accompaniment to a community resource.
Allow the person to go at his/her own pace. Often it is NOT SAFE for them to leave an abusive relationship without planning and professional assistance. Never insist that the person “just leave.”
If the person is willing, offer to go with him/her to a community resource, or place a call with the person to a domestic violence hotline.

Domestic Violence Awareness

Susan Folwell — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:10:23 +0000

Every year in October, many people notice purple ribbons on the lapels of friends and neighbors. Similar to the pink breast cancer ribbon, the purple ribbon is a symbol of support in the fight to end domestic violence, and October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Why devote a month to this cause?

Domestic violence is often misunderstood. All around the world, one in three women experiences some form of domestic violence in her lifetime (US Dept. of Justice). Also called family abuse, it is not confined to physical violence alone. Domestic violence is a pattern of coercive behaviors used by an individual to gain and/or maintain power and control over another person in the context of an intimate/dating/family relationship. Some of these coercive behaviors may include:

Emotional, Psychological and Verbal Abuse
Isolation and Stalking
Minimizing, Denying, and Blaming
Economic Abuse
Coercion and Threats
Intimidation
Spiritual abuse

The pattern of behaviors is generally not caused by anger or a lack of impulse control or substance abuse. It is an ongoing effort to maintain a position of dominance over the victim and/or family members. Domestic violence occurs between people of all ages, races, ethnicities, economic, educational and religious backgrounds. It occurs in heterosexual and same-gender relationships. Wear your own purple ribbon to show support and raise awareness. If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse, click on the links for more information:

www.ncadv.org (National Coalition Against Domestic Violence)

www.ndvh.org (National Domestic Violence Hotline)

Weight Stigma Awareness Week Sept 26-30 2011

Trisha Souders Rubin — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 19:23:19 +0000

Please check out the Binge Eating Disorder Association’s website for the latest on weight stigma.

http://www.bedaonline.com/2011WSAW/index.html

The first National Weight Stigma Awareness Week is finally here! BEDA’s goal is to bring awareness to a common and entrenched social injustice that often results in serious physical and mental health consequences for those affected. Take part in the week by participating in activities suggested in our “Call to Action” and learning more about the effects of weight stigma.

Don’t forget to do your part by spreading the word through “cybershouts” using Twitter, Facebook, or other social media. Remember to use the hashtag #weightstigma and “cybershout” about the topic as much as possible during the week of September 26-30, 2011. Use our Weight Stigma Statistics and other information provided on this page for your “cybershouts.”

Share your successes, activities, and weight stigma stories by sending toinfo@bedaonline.com. Please put “WSAW Comments” in the subject line.

Start learning more about Weight Stigma

Your Privacy

Lee Chase — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 18:31:47 +0000

The American Psychological Association Convention took place at the beginning of August, in Washington, DC. One of the workshops I attended focused on electronic communications and the practice of psychology (Eric Harris, JD, EdD, and Jeffrey Younggren, PhD). In an age when electronic communications are an integral, ongoing presence in our lives, we may sometimes forget or ignore the fact that interactions with our therapists through media such as email, text messaging, or social networking may compromise our confidentiality. For example, did you know that Skype may disclose the contents of your communications, in response to legal requests, or that your personal and/or traffic data may be shared with affiliated companies? Most of us are aware that email is not a secure form of communication. Dr. Younggren notes that all emails are retained in the logs of our Internet service providers. While it is tempting to use email as a convenient means of providing our therapists with detailed updates, Dr. Younggren suggests not putting any information in an email that you would not put on a post card. It is important to talk to your therapist about his/her policies regarding electronic communications between the two of you, in an effort to protect your privacy and the confidentiality of your treatment.
Related resources:
www.apa.org – the American Psychological Association’s website, which is an incredible resource for mental health issues
hushmail.com – offers free, secure email accounts
examples of companies which offer opportunities to encrypt your computer, flash drive, or smart phone: TrueCrypt, Bestcrypt Enterprise, Symantec

The Power of “fat talk”

Lynn Field — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 22:23:13 +0000

Words often speak louder than actions. Conversations between teenagers about their bodies, diets and weight are often referred to as fat talk. While they can sometimes be benign, words used can leave a lasting and negative impression. Most of us can accept that calling someone fat is unkind, yet there are also many words that have a similar impact. These words include: big, large, stocky, broad, wide, strong, big-boned and hippy. Taken out of context, an unintended message can have a lasting effect.

Weight to Feel Better?

Lynn Field — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 13:04:24 +0000

It is so unfortunate how much weight can influence mood. While obsessiveness about weight is an aspect of an eating disorder, it is also an aspect of every day living in our culture. The number on the scale can determine whether it is going to be a good day or a bad day–if it’s up, not so good; if it’s down, yippee! Do we really need to know what that number is or does it begin to represent who we are? For all intents and purposes we may as well introduce ourselves: “Hi, my name is Alice and I weigh 125 lbs. How about you?” Instead, envision a world without scales where it’s about who you are not what you weigh.

Bre-e-e-athe

Lynn Field — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 15:47:11 +0000

Anxiety is a natural thing. It is part of the fight-or-flight response and is more often part of healthy constructive behavior. Without a tad of anxiety, you wouldn’t study for a test or prepare for that presentation. Too much anxiety, however, can be disabling. When we are anxious and preparing for fight-or-flight, our bodies shift processes including revving our heart rate, slowing our digestion and prompting us to breathe more shallowly. We can actually “trick” ourselves into a greater state of calm by pushing back against the shallow breathing and beginning to bre-e-e-athe. Taking deep breaths by filling your lungs, extending your stomach and relaxing your shoulders can actually facilitate a greater level of calm. While this isn’t a replacement for medication, it can certainly create a greater sense of ease.

Aspects of a healthy relationship

Lynn Field — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 16:11:35 +0000

There are many things that contribute to a healthy relationship. Two important aspects are empathy and personal responsibility. Empathy is a person’s ability to share the other’s emotional experience. With this understanding there can be emotional intimacy and connectedness. Additionally, it is important for each person in a relationship to take responsibility for his or her part in both the positive as well as negative aspects of that relationship. Placing blame is distancing while taking responsibility fosters compassion and closeness.

Cutting in adolescents

Lynn Field — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 14:57:33 +0000

Cutting is a behavior that parents find frightening and rightly so. While this behavior may be a suicidal gesture and should always be taken seriously, very often it serves other purposes. The action of cutting can cause a physiological response that has a calming effect. If adolescents are in considerable emotional pain, this behavior may act to distract and calm. Additionally, in situations where there teens have experienced some sort of trauma and may be depersonalizing, cutting can “ground.” That is, it can refocus some adolescents to the present environment. A good resource is:

Cutting: Understanding and Overcoming Self-Mutilation by Steven Levenkron

Shades of anger

Lynn Field — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 17:19:22 +0000

Anger is an emotion that is often considered a “bad emotion.” There really aren’t any “bad emotions” per se but rather “negative” emotions. The many shades of anger include frustration, irritation, annoyance, and at the end of the continuum, rage. We all experience the shades of anger every day, ones that often prompt us to take positive action. However, rage tends to be negative and is often destructive. With rage, a person may lose control and often take action—physically, emotionally or verbally—with irreversible consequences. We see this take place in the world around us.