Participants: Jennifer Jill Schwirzer Robert Davidson (Host), Nivishi Edwards, Paul Coneff, Shelley Wiggins
Series Code: MOC
Program Code: MOC000003A
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00:26 Welcome to a Multitude of Counselors.
00:29 We're so glad you came to our program today. 00:32 We're gonna be talking about mental health issues 00:34 which is what we do on this program 00:36 and we talk about solutions 00:37 and how God can helps us to become healthier. 00:40 I've got my illustrious treatment team here today. 00:43 I've got Paul Coneff, he is from Texas, 00:46 he is a marriage and family therapist 00:48 by training. 00:50 But he also has a prayer and discipleship ministry 00:53 called ''Straight 2 the Heart'' and through that ministry, 00:56 he ministers to people that are struggling with loss, 00:59 trauma, addictions, and he points them to the Cross 01:01 in the most really beautiful and redemptive way. 01:05 We've also got Shelly Wiggins from Michigan 01:08 and she runs a private practice called... 01:11 Driftwood... "Driftwood Counseling.'' 01:13 And she is very, very broad 01:16 in what she does through that practice, 01:18 but she likes to do things 01:20 to focus on things like addictions, anxiety, 01:23 and recovery from abuse. 01:25 And she uses not only talk therapy, 01:28 traditional talk therapy but also equine therapy, 01:31 working with horses 01:33 and we're gonna be talking about that during the show. 01:35 We've also got Nivischi Edwards. 01:38 Dr. Nivischi is a private, 01:40 virtual private practice counselor. 01:43 She has, she teaches 01:44 at Southern Adventist University, 01:46 she's an inspiring author and she likes to focus 01:49 on developing good relationships 01:52 even relationship, 01:54 good relationship with your self, 01:55 because after all we have a relation with ourselves, 01:58 so she is a relationship expert. 02:00 We also have my co-host, Rob Davidson. 02:03 He works with me as a private practice counselor 02:07 through Abide Network. 02:08 He is from the DC area and one of the things 02:11 that's really close to my heart 02:12 that Rob likes to specialized in is, 02:14 he helps man built biblical manhood integrity 02:18 and learn how to be servant leaders. 02:20 I'm so thankful for that. 02:22 Today, we're going to be talking about eating disorders. 02:26 Eating disorders by definition are not surprisingly disorders 02:29 that have to do with eating. 02:32 But there are three main eating disorders 02:35 in diagnostic manual 02:36 and I'm just gonna give those briefly 02:38 and with the brief description of what they look like. 02:40 First of all, there is Anorexia. 02:43 Anorexia is characterized by underweight. 02:45 Person has to be, I believe it is 15% underweight 02:48 to qualify to be anorexic. 02:50 They must be unduly focused on food and diet 02:55 and figure and weight 02:57 and their self-esteem in particulars 02:59 is unduly tied to those things. 03:02 Bulimia is the same in that regard, 03:04 the self worth is unduly tied to weight. 03:07 However, people with bulimia are not underweight, 03:11 they are typically normal weight 03:12 or a little higher sometimes 03:14 and they engage in binging and purging. 03:18 Binge eating disorder 03:19 is the basically the binging without the purging 03:22 and binge eating disorder is not surprisingly 03:25 the most common of the eating disorders. 03:29 The prevalence of eating disorders, 03:31 there's a very interesting question from my study, 03:34 most eating disorders are found in wealthy countries. 03:38 It's kind of a rich man's disease. 03:40 It tends to be that in the places in the world 03:42 where people ever have a scarcity of food, 03:45 they don't mess with food, you know, 03:46 they have this kind of sense that it's sacred somehow. 03:50 And it's interesting because women are of course 03:53 much more inclined toward eating disorders. 03:55 Here is a little illustration about little graph. 03:58 So what's the prognosis? 03:59 Well, all eating disorders are treatable 04:02 and they do respond to treatment. 04:04 But I want to insert a caveat here 04:06 and that is that when an individual 04:08 has what we call ego-syntonic disorder, 04:13 that means a disorder 04:14 if that is in sync with the ego, 04:16 it feels good to them 04:17 as opposed to an ego-dystonic disorder 04:19 which they don't like to have. 04:22 This person actually enjoys having that disorder. 04:25 And anorexia is just such a disorder 04:28 and people with anorexia tend to like to be underweight, 04:32 even though they don't consider themselves underweight, 04:34 because they have a distorted body image. 04:36 And so it can be difficult to treat 04:38 someone who doesn't dislike their illness. 04:42 So it's going to be very challenging 04:44 but I want to give a praise report here. 04:46 I'm sort of recovered person with anorexia. 04:49 I had anorexia when I was 19. 04:52 My mother sent me to a couple of different counselors. 04:55 One of them told me, I scared him, 04:58 was really interesting. 04:59 But anyway, I got passed it and God healed me 05:02 so even though for that period of time 05:04 I really clung to my disorder. 05:06 Ultimately, I was freed and thank God for that. 05:09 So the treatments include of course, counseling, 05:11 particular group therapy, psycho education. 05:14 Sometimes meditation can take the edge off the urge to binge, 05:17 and of course, lifestyle can improve brain chemistry as well 05:21 and equine therapy. 05:23 So let's talk about equine therapy, Shelly? 05:25 Where I find out about equine therapy 05:28 is from doing some extra training 05:30 at Remuda Ranch in Arizona, 05:33 actually they locate in Wickenburg. 05:35 And they did 20 years of data research 05:39 with the treatment that they were doing for adolescence 05:42 and women in their mid 20s. 05:45 They found that the team approach 05:48 that included family therapy, 05:51 a faith portion of their treatment plan 05:55 and the use of equine therapy 05:57 was what got them the greatest outcome. 06:00 So can you define equine therapy for us? 06:02 Yes, it's equine assisted growth and learning. 06:07 What's an equine? 06:08 An equine is equest, which means horse. 06:12 So working with horses and people together. 06:17 I guess the easiest and quickest way 06:19 to explain it is a horse never lies, 06:23 it functions like a mirror to a person's emotions. 06:26 And every time we do these sessions, 06:30 you would think that we handed the script to the horse 06:32 on how to respond to a certain client 06:35 or patience disorder. 06:38 It is phenomenal how awesome God 06:41 and His creation 06:43 and how He has created this particular animal 06:46 to serve us if we'll spend the time. 06:49 So you talked about Remuda Ranch. 06:52 And by the way, 06:53 I've heard they've the best treatment cutting edge 06:55 but you do equine therapist yourself, right? 06:57 Yeah, the model 06:59 that I'm certified in this called Eagala, 07:02 which means equine assisted growth and learning. 07:05 So it doesn't always have to be just psycho therapy, 07:07 some people come and do like a retreat, 07:10 a leadership team building, you know, 07:12 like the old ropes course 07:14 that can do different activities with horses. 07:19 I've done an eating disorder group 07:22 where the entire group is there working with the horses. 07:27 It's just really a phenomenal modality. 07:31 I have worked with a patient 07:34 who is struggling with anorexia, 07:36 and she was pretty much non-verbal 07:39 for the first four months and I thought you know... 07:42 What do you mean non-verbal? She wouldn't talk? 07:44 We would sit for 45 minutes 07:47 and I'd ask her few questions now and then, 07:50 embrace that beauty of silence 07:51 as we know as counselors sometimes that time happens 07:54 and we don't always have to talk and feel the air 07:57 but she was literally silent and I thought, you know, 08:01 I can't keep taking her money. 08:05 We're just sitting here and I'm thinking, 08:06 what am I doing to help her? 08:08 Wow. 08:09 And it was one of those amazing moments of she said, 08:12 you know, "Thank you for being patient." 08:14 Wow. "And just being with me." 08:16 And here you were feeling guilty. 08:18 Yeah, I was thinking, I've to produce something or, 08:20 you know, do something, right. 08:22 And we did just a few sessions of equine therapy 08:25 and I'll never forget she was just brushing the horse 08:29 and then all of a sudden she just started to sob. 08:32 Oh, that's amazing. It's a very powerful modality. 08:37 It's nothing like new agey voo-voo that kind of stuff. 08:41 Lot of people ask me, you know, as a Christian, 08:43 "What are you doing dabbling in this?" 08:46 The way I look at it is... 08:47 Oh, what's airy-fairy about a horse. 08:50 Nothing, that's why I'm bringing it up 08:52 The Bible talks about horses. 08:54 Yeah, I think the most phenomenal part of it 09:01 like I said is a horse can't lie. 09:04 They meet you right where you're at. 09:07 And they sense what's going on, 09:09 if you need space, they stay away. 09:12 Yeah. 09:13 If you've too much going on, this was a... 09:16 I'll share one more quick story. 09:18 There was a girl who had not talked 09:20 about the traumatic death of her father 09:23 in over five years. 09:25 And we had done in the office cognitive behavioral therapy, 09:29 and she was just, you know, 09:31 being light hearted and just giggly 09:33 about a whole bunch of things going on in high school. 09:35 And weren't ever getting to it, 09:37 so we go out to the ranch, one session, one session only 09:41 and the horse could not stand to be in her presence 09:47 and it busted through the fence. 09:50 Because she was being so fake? 09:52 No, what we kind of concluded was that she wasn't ready 09:59 and that horse picked up on the fact that, 10:02 "I'm not ready, I'm out of here." 10:04 And that was kind of what she was doing in therapy 10:07 is avoiding, avoiding, avoiding. 10:09 And then the horse avoided her. 10:11 Yeah. That's interesting. 10:12 It was really quite phenomenal. 10:13 Yeah, I used to ride horses as a child 10:16 and then I always told, "They'll know if you're afraid. 10:19 They'll know what you're feeling in that moment." 10:21 So they are highly sensitive animals is what you're saying 10:24 that our reflectors become reflectors of the client 10:27 and help the client, kind of see their own emotions 10:30 projected on to a screen so to speak. 10:33 If people want to know more about this particular modality, 10:36 they can go to eagala.org. 10:38 It's G-A-L-A... 10:40 Yeah. 10:42 Egala.org and it tells you whole lot more about it. 10:45 Yeah, I understand that they're working with equine therapy 10:49 with the young people with addictions too, 10:50 isn't that the case? 10:52 So it's a very broad application for that therapy. 10:55 Yeah. 10:57 And you know, didn't God give us animals for purpose. 11:00 I mean if you think about it, he could have created us, 11:02 in His image there in the Garden of Eden 11:04 with just trees and flowers and fruits 11:06 and all kinds of nice stuff and no animals. 11:08 Yeah. But what did He do? 11:10 He created us in the midst of this whole, 11:13 all these other species and what did He do that for? 11:18 For our enjoyment and in a fallen world 11:22 for our healing. 11:23 You know, another metaphor that we use 11:25 when people are ready to include the faith process 11:29 is just the concept that a horse is a prey animal. 11:33 Okay, they are worried about somebody... 11:35 Preying upon them. 11:37 Yes, so even though they are large and majestic creatures, 11:43 when a client gets to realize that they are not a threat, 11:46 that they are, they can be a modality of change 11:49 and progress. 11:51 When the client realizes that the horse himself... 11:54 Can carry their burden. Oh, I see what you are saying. 11:57 Okay, a horse is built to carry. 11:59 I say, but what, can you connect that to the fact 12:02 that the horses are prey animals as you said? 12:05 Do they feel for the horse, 12:07 because the horse has fears and threats of its own? 12:10 Yes. Yeah, okay. 12:11 That was what I was wondering. Yeah. 12:13 A lot of times people are afraid of the horse. 12:16 But the horse is just afraid of us 12:19 and it's about their rapport building. 12:20 We talk a lot about as counselors that, 12:22 if you don't have the rapport and that connection, 12:25 therapy doesn't work. 12:26 Well, it's the same thing 12:28 when they're out working with the horse 12:29 if they don't give that opportunity 12:31 to reach out and connect. 12:35 But it's more tactile, you know, 12:37 they can just be brushing 12:38 and there is not a lot of verbal 12:40 that a client has to engage in 12:43 and there's a lot of processing going on underneath. 12:45 That's powerful. 12:47 So the reason why this modality works well 12:49 for eating disorders is what specifically. 12:53 Well, you can't hide from it. 12:58 I think the way relationship play out, for example, 13:04 in anorexic type behavior 13:06 is going to be more like pushing away, okay. 13:10 With bulimia, we see more of, you know, 13:15 I'm gonna pull in a relationship fast, 13:16 but then I'm gonna push it away afterwards. 13:18 You know, and so we look at their relationship 13:21 and how they are reacting to the horse 13:23 and with the horse. 13:24 And we get them to kind of apply that to themselves. 13:28 Do you think that eating disorders aren't necessarily 13:31 the results of suppressing emotion? 13:34 You think there's a lot of that 13:35 in the development of an eating disorder? 13:38 I know for me, that was the case, 13:39 I didn't know how to process all my many emotions, 13:43 and really anorexia for me was a program 13:48 where I could shrink myself down 13:49 and my life down to one simple thing. 13:51 I only had one goal, 13:52 I didn't have to face all the issues, 13:54 relationships, life purpose, you know, 13:58 being content with who I'm, content with my body. 14:01 I didn't have to deal with any of that, 14:03 all I have to do is lose weight. 14:05 My goal, my life was boiled down to one simple thing. 14:07 It was one thing you could control. 14:09 So it was a way, exactly it was a control issue 14:11 and it was a way of blocking off my emotions 14:14 and what I was facing as a young adult 14:17 trying to figure out where I belong in this world, 14:19 you know, which was a huge question. 14:21 I really think that at that age range 14:23 from like 17 to like 24 is a very vulnerable. 14:28 Would you agree with that, Nivischi? 14:29 Absolutely, the client that I've seen 14:30 who struggled with eating disorder, 14:32 the females in particular. 14:34 It's been I'm struggling with relationships 14:37 and other areas of my life. 14:39 I don't know how to sort them through. 14:41 But I can manage this relationship 14:43 here with the food. 14:45 Yes, exactly it's a way of simplifying life 14:48 to where you don't have to deal with all the stuff 14:50 and so, you know, connecting with an animal 14:52 would perhaps give you a sense of release 14:55 to where you could start to process 14:57 those difficult emotions. 14:58 Sometimes we'll give client a piece of chalk 15:01 and they'll write their emotions 15:03 or their burdens, 15:04 the things that they need to leave with the horse 15:07 and then they'll the watch the horse 15:08 go back out to pasture. 15:10 Oh, that's powerful. 15:12 Another really interesting difference 15:14 between anorexia and bulimia 15:17 is anorexia tends to be more towards 15:20 wanting to control emotions 15:23 and bulimia leans more towards body image. 15:26 Not accepting of how God has created you so. 15:32 It's really crazy and toxic how in western culture 15:36 the things that are coming through the media 15:39 about women are two basic things, 15:41 be thin and food, you know, 15:43 we're constantly bombarded with images of food 15:47 and drawn into like sensual longing as a result of. 15:50 If you watch television, the commercials 15:53 are all about food, sex and violence. 15:56 Or the programming really is, 15:58 because it's all lower brain stuff, 16:00 because there is so much competition 16:02 for watchers and viewers 16:04 that they have to get those lower brain messages in 16:06 at closer and closer intervals so that... 16:10 and because the lower brain engages more quickly 16:13 than the higher brain. 16:14 So we're seeing more and more of that kind of thing. 16:16 So we have constant bombardment with food images 16:19 and with women needing to be, you know, 16:21 thin or having just a perfect figure. 16:23 Do you work with eating disorders 16:25 with your program that you have, Paul? 16:27 Yeah, we had one girl that I had known... 16:29 her parents were involved and I think it was about, 16:30 partly about control but she have been teased 16:33 and so her solution was being teased, 16:35 she interpreted as being fat. 16:37 It wasn't an abuse 16:39 but they just had a nickname for her Kelly Belly 16:41 and so she interpreted on fat, 16:42 I believe she said, "Now, I'm gonna make sure, 16:45 I'm not fat, I'm rejected, 16:47 my parents aren't in the picture, 16:48 I'm gonna make sure." 16:50 So she ended up being anorexic and so and at to the point 16:54 where she was sick of decide her food, 16:55 she live with her grandmother, 16:57 she didn't have money for, you know, 16:58 send her to an expensive treatment program. 17:00 So we're able to pray with her, 17:01 address some of those negative thoughts, 17:03 she was able to get some healing, 17:05 do some forgiving and she was able to get some freedom. 17:07 That's powerful. 17:08 I love the horse ministry, that's very, 17:11 it's a very powerful holistic component too... 17:15 Well, let's look at our presenting problem here. 17:17 Go ahead, Rob, and why don't you read that? 17:19 Already. 17:20 22 year old, single an Asian American, Blanche 17:24 comes to the session swimming in a long dress, 17:27 thick sweater and boots. 17:29 Her wealthy mother and father have insisted on her 17:31 attending counseling 17:32 and are paying for the sessions. 17:34 Blanche is friendly and engaging, 17:36 willing to banter about various topics, 17:39 particularly religion. 17:40 She is a recent convert 17:42 to the Seventh-day Adventist church 17:44 and loves to talk about spiritual things. 17:46 Because Blanche's mother has indicated 17:48 that Blanche is under eating 17:50 and weighs only 95 pounds at 5 foot 6, 17:53 you broach the topic. 17:55 Blanche cheerfully says, 17:56 she eats huge piles of food at every meal. 17:59 You ask her, if she think she is underweight 18:01 and she says, "No." 18:02 That she is healthy. How do you help Blanche? 18:06 We have to go with a treatment team approach. 18:10 It's not just one counselor. 18:13 When we're dealing with eating disorders 18:14 especially when we get into those dangerous zones 18:17 where like with bulimia 18:19 the electrolytes are all thrown off, 18:20 her potassium is off. 18:22 You can't look at a person 18:23 and see that those things are happening. 18:25 Anorexia, the brain shrinks. 18:27 So depression is prevalent... 18:29 That's right. 18:30 So we really need a team, we need a MD, 18:32 we need a registered dietician, family therapy, 18:36 psychiatry sometimes, and then the individual therapy. 18:40 So it can become very expensive, very fast. 18:44 But if you're gonna be the individual counselor, 18:47 you need to draw in these other people 18:49 as a part of the wheel. 18:51 And it's worth it, given the fact 18:53 that 10% of the people with anorexia end up dying, 18:56 it's the most, 18:58 often fatal psychiatric disorder so it's worth... 19:03 I mean, what would you want to have spend 19:04 if the person does pass away. 19:06 So how tragic is that? Right. 19:08 I have a question, if a client comes to us 19:11 and we detect that something like this is going on, 19:14 what would be to, 19:15 how do we get them involved in the team treatment mode 19:18 that you are talking about. 19:20 Is this something that's in patient? 19:22 How to out patient? 19:24 Number one, I have them go to their primary care 19:28 and get a baseline physical to start somewhere. 19:31 You know, electrolytes, potassium, there's, you know, 19:35 and to have an idea of a doctor in your area 19:38 that has some extra training in this. 19:41 Not every primary care is not gonna, you know, 19:43 have the thousands vessels attached to treat this. 19:46 Right. 19:47 But a registered dietician for the accountability 19:50 in regards to the food because when you're doing the therapy 19:53 you can't really be the case manager. 19:57 But in one side of it, you kind have to. 20:00 But if you're wanting to do just the therapy, 20:04 get a family session in. 20:06 There's dynamics that started at the table 20:10 around the issue of food, 20:11 or like you mentioned that girl got a pet name somehow 20:16 and then that snowboarded from there. 20:20 Do you think recognizing the impact 20:24 that the disorder is having on your family 20:26 and seeing how deeply they care 20:28 and kind of almost an intervention kind of context 20:31 or bringing them into counseling is helpful? 20:34 Well, there was another interesting part 20:36 of on the research that was done at Remuda Ranch. 20:39 They did what was called Family Week. 20:41 And so they would have like a circle of families 20:45 around a family 20:47 watching the therapy take place. 20:49 Wow. For a truth and love session. 20:52 So there is a place for truth and love. 20:55 How is this impacting us as a family? 20:59 You know, just like you would have an addiction intervention, 21:02 you know... 21:03 So the families would all watch 21:04 the one family that was having the therapy 21:06 and they see them working through some of things 21:08 that probably laid the foundation 21:10 for the eating disorder to begin with. 21:12 Now that's sounds 21:13 like a lot of accountability on the family. 21:16 I would be intimidated that people would, you know, 21:19 say I was neurotic and co-dependent. 21:21 Yeah, but they've done, you know, 21:23 the 20 years worth of the research 21:24 and have the highest recovery. 21:28 I'm just curious as with someone like Blanche, 21:31 she seems to be 95 pounds 5 foot, 6 inches and says, 21:34 I eat lot, I'm fine. 21:36 What she's eating? I'm fine, I've got no problem. 21:39 So and she says, she's healthy too. 21:41 How do you help someone like that 21:43 to see that there is a problem? 21:45 Okay, that's what psycho education 21:47 you talked about, Jennifer, the psycho education 21:48 is a part of the treatment process also. 21:51 And educating them and it's a slow process 21:54 and if I think that everything is "normal", 21:57 then it's hard for me to see anything other than what is. 22:01 You know, and as he did said that physical examine 22:03 and they see everything is off and there is a serious problem. 22:06 Do they tend to accept that or they rationalize away? 22:09 It depends. 22:10 Yeah, depends on the client but that's a part of our goal, 22:13 it's to help them accept what is real 22:16 versus what they've told themselves is true. 22:18 Let me share from my own experience 22:19 'cause I don't know if you figure this out 22:21 but Blanche was me. 22:22 I was 5 foot 6 and 95 pound and I was, believe it or not, 22:27 dating my husband at this time 22:29 and my mother was very worried about me. 22:31 She would pressure me, 22:32 so her psycho education was ineffective. 22:35 It was just really all about how worried she was. 22:39 My husband on the other hand took a more gracious approach 22:43 'cause he had been through anorexia himself 22:45 before he became a Christian. 22:47 He got involved in eastern religions 22:49 that emphasized very rigid diet approaches 22:53 and he ended up starving down to like 120 pounds 22:56 and he is like big frame 5 foot 8 or something. 22:59 So he went through it 23:01 and he had this like caring approach to me 23:03 and so he would drop things, 23:05 he would say things like I had in the middle of me, 23:09 you know, struggling with this thing, 23:11 I had sore appear on my leg out of nowhere. 23:14 A black sore with bumps, it was disgusting. 23:17 And I mentioned it to him and he said, oh, 23:19 that's because you're not well nourished, 23:21 and your body can't fight it up. 23:22 But he didn't like, "see", you know, 23:24 he was very gentle 23:26 and but very matter of fact about it 23:27 and that kind of thing did get through to me 23:30 and what finally happened 23:31 if you want to hear the story is we did get married 23:34 and we moved to Montana and he was a tree planter, 23:37 and I had to wash my clothes in the creek, 23:40 I had to cook over a fire. 23:42 I had to carry trees up to him on the mountains 23:46 in these backpacks and I started to realize hey, 23:50 I like the idea of being strong. 23:51 I'm over this being all skinny and frail. 23:53 I like being strong 23:55 and I busted out of it, it was a miracle. 23:56 But I think it was a lot of, 23:58 it was feeling the security of that relationship. 24:00 That love and support. Love, yeah, exactly, exactly. 24:03 So that's my story. 24:04 I don't know if you guys figured it out 24:06 that I was Blanche but I was, I'm not Asian though. 24:08 But go ahead as you could see. 24:11 But go ahead and give us a quick recap here, Rob. 24:15 Okay, so we started talking about equine therapy 24:18 and how Remuda Ranch 24:20 is not were you work, is that correct? 24:22 Correct, I just went and did some extra training there. 24:24 Yes, but that is one place 24:26 where individual could get excellent treatment. 24:29 So equine therapy is all about a team approach. 24:32 Bringing the family in, bring faith into the picture 24:36 and send it around horses 24:38 because horses as you say cannot lie. 24:40 They are very in tune 24:42 to what's going on with an individual 24:43 and I could actually be have a testimony about that 24:46 when I was younger and I try to ride a horse myself 24:48 and I was afraid so the horse just nudged me up 24:50 against the fence and stepped on my foot 24:52 and said, "You are afraid, 24:53 I'm gonna put you in your place." 24:56 So I know horses are amazing creatures. 25:00 So you also mentioned eagala.org 25:05 and this is where an individual can go to get information 25:08 and you also mentioned that horse, 25:13 the therapy there is very tactile, 25:15 which is much different than counseling in the session. 25:19 And the horse actually can act like the counselor 25:21 because this is the safe place for the individual 25:23 to just sit with and be accepted, 25:26 and this is what is very important in counseling 25:28 is to accepted. 25:31 With anorexia there is a control issue 25:33 that we've talked about, control over the emotions 25:35 because in life there are so much that's out of control 25:38 and this is one area 25:40 where an individual can have some control. 25:42 And they can manage their life stressors 25:45 through this one modality which is food. 25:47 Bulimia on the other hand is about focusing on body image 25:51 because body image is, it's just so prevalent 25:54 in terms of what a body should look like. 25:57 And we emphasized the treatment approach must be holistic. 26:00 We're talking about bringing the medical doctor 26:02 into the picture, 26:04 registered dietician, family therapy, 26:06 individual therapy and was there another? 26:09 Group. Group therapy, yes. 26:13 And what we can do as individual counselors 26:16 is the psycho educational piece is very important 26:19 and it's a slow process, 26:21 because individuals are not always... 26:23 There's that aspect of denial, and so as we can continue 26:27 to bring psycho education into the picture, 26:30 we could be probably piggybacking 26:32 on what our parents have been telling us all along, 26:34 but maybe they will be open to what we have to say now 26:37 as the professional. 26:39 Yeah, so on. 26:41 So the Lord tells us, I want you to prosper 26:46 and be in health even as your soul prospers. 26:49 And that's why we need to deal with our emotional issues 26:52 because we can't truly prosper 26:55 and be healthy just eating the right food 26:57 and getting enough exercise. 26:59 We've got to deal with our emotional issues 27:00 and eating disorders are good example 27:02 of what happens when we don't adequately 27:07 and correctly process our emotion. 27:09 So God has promised us that he will give us, 27:13 he will strengthen us and lead us with his right hand 27:16 and he has also told us that perfect love cast out all fear. 27:20 Amen. 27:22 And so God is by our side, willing and wanting to help us 27:25 through these difficult passages. 27:27 If you know someone with eating disorder, 27:29 if you yourself are struggling with an eating disorder, 27:31 seek help first and foremost from God 27:34 but don't hesitate to get professional help as well 27:36 or group help because it can help. 27:38 Thank you for joining us on a Multitude of Counselors. 27:41 We do hope you will join us for future programs. 27:44 And until then, I want you to remember the love of God, 27:47 that He is the healer and He says 27:50 that we should cast all our cares on Him 27:52 because He cares for us, that's 1 Peter 5:7. 27:57 May God bless you. |
Revised 2016-10-10