Jen King

Is fear sucking the fulfillment from your life? Maybe you’re missing out on things you wish you could do. Do you often feel revved up? Or maybe you feel you relate to Bob from “What About Bob?” a little too closely – cold sweats, hot sweats…blurred vision, involuntary trembling, dead hands, numb lips. We laugh, but the reality is, it’s not fun. Eventually some may crash. You’re tired. It’s exhausting to maintain this state. After prolonged periods, some may slip into a low. Things don’t seem as colorful as they used to. Everything seems a little dull. Literally and figuratively. In either case, you want to feel better.

The #1 indicator of whether therapy will help you feel better is your relationship with your counselor. A critical component of that positive relationship is that the counselor is empathetic. From childhood trauma to my own battles with mental illness, to raising special needs children; my life experiences have led to a deep development of empathy.

Our struggles need not be the same. I am confident that you will find my empathetic, non-judging nature provides a comfortable scene to develop that critical relationship between you and I that leads to your greatest counseling success no matter your circumstances. Click the “Book” button at the top to make your appointment with me and start your journey to feeling better.

Eating Disorders - It's Not About the Food

By Kelly Lopez

If it’s not about the food, what is it really about?

The eating disorder serves a function, it does a job. Despite the problems an eating disorder creates, it is an effort to cope, shield against, communicate, and solve problems. Behaviors may be a way to establish a sense of power or control, self-worth, strength, and containment. Bringing may be used to numb pain. Purging may be a way to release emotions. When one cannot cope in healthy ways, adaptive functions (behaviors) are created to ensure a sense of safety, security, and control.
According to Carolyn Costin*, some of the “adaptive functions that eating disorder behaviors commonly serve are”:
It’s not about the food, it’s a way of coping with low self-esteem, negative emotions, physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, unstable home, difficulty resolving conflict and much more.
*Costin, Carolyn. The Eating Disorder Sourcebook: A Comprehensive Guide to the Causes, Treatments and Prevention of Eating Disorders. 3rd. edition, McGraw Hill, 2007.
Fuller, Kristen. “Eating Disorders: It’s Not All about Food.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 22 Mar. 2017