Guided Imagery and Eating Disorder Treatment Written by: Joanna Poppink, M.F.T., psychotherapist specializing in eating disorder recovery
Guided imagery and other methods that reach under the conscious thinking mind can be useful in helping people recover from eating disorders. People with eating disorders often have secrets from hemselves. These are secrets about which they have little or no awareness. Guilt, shame and severe self-criticism accompany most eating disorders.
People believe they are doing something weak and wrong by abusing themselves with too much or not enough food, or by taking laxatives or vomiting, or by compulsively exercising to work off calories. They can be merciless in their self-punishing thoughts. But eating disorders are not about food or being bad or deficient. Eating disorders are usually about trying to protect oneself from unbearable fear. This fear is so thorough and long standing that often people do not know they are afraid. Even knowledge of their fear can be a secret from themselves. The source of their fear and what their fear means is the secret (or is among several secrets) that trigger the eating disorder behavior.
Guided imagery, done gently and respectfully, can be very helpful during various phases eating disorder treatment. I have used guided imagery for many years with clients who suffer from nameless and bewildering fear and emotional pain. Many are women struggling with various forms of bulimia. Going to a relaxed state and letting images from the unconscious come forth is a way a person can say what they cannot say, or even think, in the language of day to day conversation.
Being able to name our fears is the first and most important step in being able to resolve them. Rather than feel helpless in the grip of fear, we need to change our perspective so we can grasp what it is that frightens us. To do that we must find a way to articulate those fears. Guided imagery allows complex feelings to emerge in an understandable and non-threatening way. At first, the specifics of the person's secrets remain protected. At the same time, the person can use a metaphoric language to name what has been nameless in their emotional lives. For example, a woman may find herself in a lovely green meadow on a sunny day. She happily walks on a path that becomes rockier as she proceeds. She becomes increasingly anxious as the day gets darker. She approaches a forbidding, neglected old house. With no interpretation at all the psychotherapist can stay with the person's experience. What the person feels and thinks in this imagery are feelings and thoughts she has in her daily life. But in her daily life they are not as precise and compact. And, most importantly, she does not examine her experience with a trusted and trustworthy knowledgeable companion. At an early stage the woman can explore the meadow and the path where she feels happy and comfortable.
Perhaps she can also look at where her path in life feels rocky and dark, if she's ready. More likely it will take some time before she can move with her fear to explore what the dark house holds for her. As she explores her imagery with her psychotherapist, she gains strength and confidence in her ability to stay present with her feelings.
She can move through some unconscious prohibitions and bring awareness to the neglected structures within her. Eating disorders serve the purpose of taking people away from their intolerable feelings. Through imagery work with a reliable and dependable psychotherapist, a client can develop more strength to tolerate her feelings. As she learns to trust and rely on more of her own inner resources she is able to come closer to a greater understanding of her underlying fears and her secrets. The more she can know and remain present with her feelings, the less she needs her eating disorder as an escape.
She learns to bear her own human experience. She also learns to have respect and compassion for her ability to rally her own strength to meet her fears. Eventually meaning in her imagery will come forth. She will understand her surface happiness, her dark, hidden fears and the lonely, hard road she walks. Over time she will also reap the benefits of experiencing the imagery itself. She learns relaxation methods while in an anxious state. She discovers that she can communicate and share with another human being while experiencing intense feelings. As she gains compassion and respect for her courage in exploring her inner world, she decreases and finally stops her self-punishing thoughts. As she learns to remain present to herself and other people while she is in an intense emotional state, she increases her self-esteem. And as she faces and resolves her inner terrors she no longer needs to use her old eating disorder escape routes.
The road to recovery from eating disorders is complex. It requires patience, time, compassion and support as well as a deep appreciation of unconscious processes. Using guided imagery as part of the treatment can help create links between the client and her unarticulated inner experience that contributes to her eating disorders. Joanna Poppink, MFT, licensed psychotherapist, specializes in working with people with eating disorders and their loved ones. 10573 West Pico Bl. #20, Los Angeles, CA (310) 474-4165 Website Joanna Poppink, L.M.F.T. 15563 Eating Disorder Recovery Specialist
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
New Hope for Migraine SufferersWritten by: Gary Ames -
.
Migraine headaches are recurring episodes of throbbing, localized head pain that last from hours to days. They run in families but afflict women 3 to 1 over men. There are 18 million Americans with migraine headache and the incidence is rising. Yet only half of those with these episodes call their headaches migraines.
Researchers and clinicians gathering at the Winter Brain Conference in Palm Springs in February 2004 had very good news. They all reported similar findings. Neurofeedback works for over 90% of those with migraine headaches.
The largest group of subjects simply stop having migraines headaches for good. For the minority their total pain is reduced by at least half. These wonderful results endure in follow-up investigations. The diversity of successful methods and variety of neurofeedback technologies suggest that with multi-modal biofeedback approaches, well over 90% of migraine sufferers could be completely pain free for life.
Three non-invasive biofeedback approaches we discussed at the conference. Traditional biofeedback is well know and accepted. It takes persistent diligence to achieve the relaxation required for this technique. The signature method is hand warming biofeedback using a thermometer. If you don’t count the drop outs, the method works rather well.
The two newer forms of biofeedback allow you to strengthen your brain and discard mental clutter. This is proven, safe, and non-invasive.
1) Brain strength training enables self-regulation of the migraine process.
2) The Mind Mirror enhances efficiency a dozen times a minute by showing you when you waste energy. To drop needless surging is calming and liberating.
What is it?
This learning technology is safe, simple, natural, and completely non-invasive. The training occurs while you are relaxing in a chair, listening to music and watching an image. While you are sitting, wearing sensors on your scalp, I will monitor the readings with a sophisticated computer.
The sensors detect wasted mental energy and the computer produces feedback. It is like a mirror that shows you what you are doing, as you are doing it, so that you can improve by yourself. The conscious part of your mind is not relevant to this work; quieting of your entire mind is guided by biofeedback.
What causes migraines?
Migraines are produced by hyper-controlling the brain’s bioelectric patterns. Excess surging in the unconscious low frequency brain waves are vulnerable to disruption. Normal rhythms are distorted and become absurd. You hurt yourself by trying too hard to micro-manage the flowing chaos of normal life.
But what grips can you safely release? In biofeedback you discover which weights you can simply drop. Which energy surgings are wasted effort? Biofeedback answers that question a dozen times per minute. You learn when floating works just fine. Gradually discarding hundreds of micro-agitations per hour feels like floating without thrashing. Utterly calming.
You also discover higher uses for all that extra energy. The same comprehensive adaptive process allows you to explore subtle, yet under utilized bioelectric realms. This is life-enriching. You find better strategies for adapting to stress. The training sessions are cumulative and the results are enduring.
As you quiet more patterns of needless agitation, more resources can be devoted to whatever you are currently doing. Soon your growing resilience will allow greater flexibility as you optimize the functioning of your central nervous system. There will be more energy for the sublime aspects of life as you release the weights that hold you down.
How does it work?
When an aspect of your central nervous system surges, the music and image will stop for a moment and start up again when you calm that aspect. Brief moments of silence indicate when you are wasting energy. This is both orienting and assuring.
It is like playing the children’s game “warmer” and “colder.” Instead of finding a hidden object, we quell micro-surgings. This information will allow you to become utterly calm. Together we clean some blind spots and lubricate new pathways.
This kind of information will lead you away from suffering. All you need to do is be awake. Relaxation just occurs. Better sleep and mental clarity are common side benefits.
There is a large body of research and experience with neurofeedback, yet it is under-recognized. You have not heard of this 1970 technology before because accepting neurofeedback requires a bioelectric conception of well being.
If you pursue neurofeedback for migraines now, you may never have another such headache again.
Gary Ames
Alert Focus.com Clearly In The Zone 139 Union Avenue
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
Phone 610 - 668 - 3223 Fax 610-668-0213 Toll free 866 - 562 - 4868
.
Migraine headaches are recurring episodes of throbbing, localized head pain that last from hours to days. They run in families but afflict women 3 to 1 over men. There are 18 million Americans with migraine headache and the incidence is rising. Yet only half of those with these episodes call their headaches migraines.
Researchers and clinicians gathering at the Winter Brain Conference in Palm Springs in February 2004 had very good news. They all reported similar findings. Neurofeedback works for over 90% of those with migraine headaches.
The largest group of subjects simply stop having migraines headaches for good. For the minority their total pain is reduced by at least half. These wonderful results endure in follow-up investigations. The diversity of successful methods and variety of neurofeedback technologies suggest that with multi-modal biofeedback approaches, well over 90% of migraine sufferers could be completely pain free for life.
Three non-invasive biofeedback approaches we discussed at the conference. Traditional biofeedback is well know and accepted. It takes persistent diligence to achieve the relaxation required for this technique. The signature method is hand warming biofeedback using a thermometer. If you don’t count the drop outs, the method works rather well.
The two newer forms of biofeedback allow you to strengthen your brain and discard mental clutter. This is proven, safe, and non-invasive.
1) Brain strength training enables self-regulation of the migraine process.
2) The Mind Mirror enhances efficiency a dozen times a minute by showing you when you waste energy. To drop needless surging is calming and liberating.
What is it?
This learning technology is safe, simple, natural, and completely non-invasive. The training occurs while you are relaxing in a chair, listening to music and watching an image. While you are sitting, wearing sensors on your scalp, I will monitor the readings with a sophisticated computer.
The sensors detect wasted mental energy and the computer produces feedback. It is like a mirror that shows you what you are doing, as you are doing it, so that you can improve by yourself. The conscious part of your mind is not relevant to this work; quieting of your entire mind is guided by biofeedback.
What causes migraines?
Migraines are produced by hyper-controlling the brain’s bioelectric patterns. Excess surging in the unconscious low frequency brain waves are vulnerable to disruption. Normal rhythms are distorted and become absurd. You hurt yourself by trying too hard to micro-manage the flowing chaos of normal life.
But what grips can you safely release? In biofeedback you discover which weights you can simply drop. Which energy surgings are wasted effort? Biofeedback answers that question a dozen times per minute. You learn when floating works just fine. Gradually discarding hundreds of micro-agitations per hour feels like floating without thrashing. Utterly calming.
You also discover higher uses for all that extra energy. The same comprehensive adaptive process allows you to explore subtle, yet under utilized bioelectric realms. This is life-enriching. You find better strategies for adapting to stress. The training sessions are cumulative and the results are enduring.
As you quiet more patterns of needless agitation, more resources can be devoted to whatever you are currently doing. Soon your growing resilience will allow greater flexibility as you optimize the functioning of your central nervous system. There will be more energy for the sublime aspects of life as you release the weights that hold you down.
How does it work?
When an aspect of your central nervous system surges, the music and image will stop for a moment and start up again when you calm that aspect. Brief moments of silence indicate when you are wasting energy. This is both orienting and assuring.
It is like playing the children’s game “warmer” and “colder.” Instead of finding a hidden object, we quell micro-surgings. This information will allow you to become utterly calm. Together we clean some blind spots and lubricate new pathways.
This kind of information will lead you away from suffering. All you need to do is be awake. Relaxation just occurs. Better sleep and mental clarity are common side benefits.
There is a large body of research and experience with neurofeedback, yet it is under-recognized. You have not heard of this 1970 technology before because accepting neurofeedback requires a bioelectric conception of well being.
If you pursue neurofeedback for migraines now, you may never have another such headache again.
Gary Ames
Alert Focus.com Clearly In The Zone 139 Union Avenue
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
Phone 610 - 668 - 3223 Fax 610-668-0213 Toll free 866 - 562 - 4868
A New Kind of Health Care: Taking alternative medicine mainstream.Written by: Sheryll Alexander
More Americans are putting their health in their own hands. As a teenager with a chronic, degenerative skin disease, I was sort of forced into taking an alternative path to regain my health. In the late 1970s, my form of severe scalp psoriasis had no known cause and very few curative therapies. My dermatologist recounted some good results for his patients who underwent weekly ultraviolet light treatments, but he didn't recommend it for me because of my fair complexion and a family history of skin cancer. Desperate for relief from the pain, itching and embarrasment, I remember finding only one book in the Yorba Linda library that linked nutrition and disease.
The book I found, "Are You Confused?" by Swedish doctor Paavo Airola, outlined the doctor's studies of diet and the most long-lived cultures on the planet. He concluded that a diet rich in unprocessed, whole foods including grains, fruits, vegetables, soft cheeses, homeade yogurt, lactic acid foods (such as pickles and sauerkraut) and little meat helped these people live longer, healthier lives.
I took Dr. Airola's words to heart and began to slowly change my diet from fast food, white bread and candy to a more vegetarian and whole grains existence. My psoriasis did get somewhat better, but ebbed and flowed over the years in a succession of good and bad times. My 20-year search for better health has led me to try many alternative therapies (herbal medicine, chiropractic, energy work, blue-green algae, meditation, positive thinking, yoga) in an attempt to cure myself, all with varying degrees of success.
America has gone alternative. In my Eastside Costa Mesa, California neighborhood, yoga, chiropractic and massage centers are more prevalent than doctors' offices. The mega-health-food store down the street is a Mecca for people who eat organic foods and shop for self-help books, herbal medicines and vitamins. Clearly my neighbors have found health benefits through the use of complimentary and alternative (CAM) therapies.
In fact, CAM therapies have become the norm for most Americans. A recent survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that nearly 2/3s of American adults use some for of CAM. The survey asked 31,000 adults about 27 types of therapies ranging from acupuncture and chiropractic to the use of herbs and prayer. About 36% of those surveyed admitted to using one or more of the CAM therapies, and the number rose to 62% if prayer was added to the mix.
"These new finding confirm the extent to which Americans have turned to (CAM) approaches with the hope that they would help treat and prevent disease and enhance quality of life," says Dr. Stephen Straus, director of the government-funded National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine. Edward Sondik, the director for the National Center for Health Statistics, says that the government is now seeing that "a sizeable percentage of the public puts their personal health into ther own hands."
Public pushes CAM research. It is this majority of Americans - not the American Medical Association - that is pushing CAM research and its integration into conventional medicine, says Dr. John Longhurst, director UCI's (University of California, Irvine) Susan Samueli Center for Integrative Medicine. "We wouldn't have any (CAM research) if the politicians hadn't told the medical community that they must do it," he says. "It started about 10 years ago throught the political process when the government began funding research through the newly-formed National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine."
Longhurst says that there's a huge bap between what the public wants and what the medical community believes in and promotes. "We know so little about CAM and yet it has the potential for significantly impacting our wellness," he explains, "but I wouldn't say that the average physician embraces it."
One reason why most physicians are CAM disbelievers is because, as medial students, doctors are not taught anything about these alternative therapies, says Longhurst, who went to China to study acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). "When I went to medical school, areas that are now embraced by our center were taught in a course called 'quackery in medicine,'" he says. "We are trying to rectify this (at UCI) by providing instruction in selected CAM therapies as part of our regular, medical-student curriculum."
The Integrated future of medicine. Increased education and belief by conventional doctors in the viability of CAM therapies is driving the medical industry into the future: integrative medicine. In this new world, you can visit your doctor and be prescribed anything from the latest drug to a series of acupunture treatments to a recommended dose of daily meditation.
Integrative medical doctors emphasize the healing of the "whole" person and not just the physical body. "Integrative medicine takes into account the whole body and multiple organ systems," says Longhurst. An experienced cardiologist, Longhurst studied the nervous system and began to understand how acupuncture stimulates underlying neuro-pathways and subsequently reduces blood pressure. "As the public is becoming more and more involved with their own care, I think that they are seeking other forms of therapy, such as acupunture and traditional Chinese medicine," says Longhurst. "It's incumbent upon physicians to know more so we can advise when they should and when they shouldn't be using these therapies."
Longhurst says another reason why patients like CAM therapies is that conventional doctors have less and less time to spend with patients. "A managed-care doctor spends about 15 minutes with a patient once a year," says Longhurst, "but a typical CAM practitioner spends 30-60 minutes with you." More personal interaction with a therapist, Longhurst says, gives practitioners time to look at you as a whole person and develop a better plan for healing.
Although most herbal and botanical medicines are not under FDA control, integrative doctors do understand that CAM therapies have much lower side effect rates than conventional drugs. "The fact that these therapies have a low incedence of side effects means that in some ways they are superior to Western medicine," says Longhurst. "Even a relatively safe drug, like aspirin, can cause bleeding ulcers, so it's nice to know that we can use most CAM therapies with confidence that patients won't have a disastrous problem."
Yes, I am a believer in most CAM treatments. Once a hardcore believer in alternative medicine and vegetarianism, I have accepted that conventional medicine is at times necessary and life-saving.
And what's the harm in someone getting better simply by believing that the therapy will help them in some way? (Even conventional medicine believes in the viability of the placebo effect.) For myself, I wonder how I can have a complete psoriatic remission while eating junk food and using no regular CAM or conventional medical therapy.
Perhaps the answer is simply that I have finally integrated my life. I love the community and home in which I live. I'm involved in a loving, equal relationship and satisfying family life. Although sometimes stressful, I enjoy my freelance writing career with no set schedule and no boss. Life is good and hopefully my body will continue to respond in kind.
-Orange County Metro Sheryll Alexander is a lifestyles writer based in Costa Mesa. She is a regular contributor to Orange County Metro magazine.
More Americans are putting their health in their own hands. As a teenager with a chronic, degenerative skin disease, I was sort of forced into taking an alternative path to regain my health. In the late 1970s, my form of severe scalp psoriasis had no known cause and very few curative therapies. My dermatologist recounted some good results for his patients who underwent weekly ultraviolet light treatments, but he didn't recommend it for me because of my fair complexion and a family history of skin cancer. Desperate for relief from the pain, itching and embarrasment, I remember finding only one book in the Yorba Linda library that linked nutrition and disease.
The book I found, "Are You Confused?" by Swedish doctor Paavo Airola, outlined the doctor's studies of diet and the most long-lived cultures on the planet. He concluded that a diet rich in unprocessed, whole foods including grains, fruits, vegetables, soft cheeses, homeade yogurt, lactic acid foods (such as pickles and sauerkraut) and little meat helped these people live longer, healthier lives.
I took Dr. Airola's words to heart and began to slowly change my diet from fast food, white bread and candy to a more vegetarian and whole grains existence. My psoriasis did get somewhat better, but ebbed and flowed over the years in a succession of good and bad times. My 20-year search for better health has led me to try many alternative therapies (herbal medicine, chiropractic, energy work, blue-green algae, meditation, positive thinking, yoga) in an attempt to cure myself, all with varying degrees of success.
America has gone alternative. In my Eastside Costa Mesa, California neighborhood, yoga, chiropractic and massage centers are more prevalent than doctors' offices. The mega-health-food store down the street is a Mecca for people who eat organic foods and shop for self-help books, herbal medicines and vitamins. Clearly my neighbors have found health benefits through the use of complimentary and alternative (CAM) therapies.
In fact, CAM therapies have become the norm for most Americans. A recent survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that nearly 2/3s of American adults use some for of CAM. The survey asked 31,000 adults about 27 types of therapies ranging from acupuncture and chiropractic to the use of herbs and prayer. About 36% of those surveyed admitted to using one or more of the CAM therapies, and the number rose to 62% if prayer was added to the mix.
"These new finding confirm the extent to which Americans have turned to (CAM) approaches with the hope that they would help treat and prevent disease and enhance quality of life," says Dr. Stephen Straus, director of the government-funded National Center for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine. Edward Sondik, the director for the National Center for Health Statistics, says that the government is now seeing that "a sizeable percentage of the public puts their personal health into ther own hands."
Public pushes CAM research. It is this majority of Americans - not the American Medical Association - that is pushing CAM research and its integration into conventional medicine, says Dr. John Longhurst, director UCI's (University of California, Irvine) Susan Samueli Center for Integrative Medicine. "We wouldn't have any (CAM research) if the politicians hadn't told the medical community that they must do it," he says. "It started about 10 years ago throught the political process when the government began funding research through the newly-formed National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine."
Longhurst says that there's a huge bap between what the public wants and what the medical community believes in and promotes. "We know so little about CAM and yet it has the potential for significantly impacting our wellness," he explains, "but I wouldn't say that the average physician embraces it."
One reason why most physicians are CAM disbelievers is because, as medial students, doctors are not taught anything about these alternative therapies, says Longhurst, who went to China to study acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). "When I went to medical school, areas that are now embraced by our center were taught in a course called 'quackery in medicine,'" he says. "We are trying to rectify this (at UCI) by providing instruction in selected CAM therapies as part of our regular, medical-student curriculum."
The Integrated future of medicine. Increased education and belief by conventional doctors in the viability of CAM therapies is driving the medical industry into the future: integrative medicine. In this new world, you can visit your doctor and be prescribed anything from the latest drug to a series of acupunture treatments to a recommended dose of daily meditation.
Integrative medical doctors emphasize the healing of the "whole" person and not just the physical body. "Integrative medicine takes into account the whole body and multiple organ systems," says Longhurst. An experienced cardiologist, Longhurst studied the nervous system and began to understand how acupuncture stimulates underlying neuro-pathways and subsequently reduces blood pressure. "As the public is becoming more and more involved with their own care, I think that they are seeking other forms of therapy, such as acupunture and traditional Chinese medicine," says Longhurst. "It's incumbent upon physicians to know more so we can advise when they should and when they shouldn't be using these therapies."
Longhurst says another reason why patients like CAM therapies is that conventional doctors have less and less time to spend with patients. "A managed-care doctor spends about 15 minutes with a patient once a year," says Longhurst, "but a typical CAM practitioner spends 30-60 minutes with you." More personal interaction with a therapist, Longhurst says, gives practitioners time to look at you as a whole person and develop a better plan for healing.
Although most herbal and botanical medicines are not under FDA control, integrative doctors do understand that CAM therapies have much lower side effect rates than conventional drugs. "The fact that these therapies have a low incedence of side effects means that in some ways they are superior to Western medicine," says Longhurst. "Even a relatively safe drug, like aspirin, can cause bleeding ulcers, so it's nice to know that we can use most CAM therapies with confidence that patients won't have a disastrous problem."
Yes, I am a believer in most CAM treatments. Once a hardcore believer in alternative medicine and vegetarianism, I have accepted that conventional medicine is at times necessary and life-saving.
And what's the harm in someone getting better simply by believing that the therapy will help them in some way? (Even conventional medicine believes in the viability of the placebo effect.) For myself, I wonder how I can have a complete psoriatic remission while eating junk food and using no regular CAM or conventional medical therapy.
Perhaps the answer is simply that I have finally integrated my life. I love the community and home in which I live. I'm involved in a loving, equal relationship and satisfying family life. Although sometimes stressful, I enjoy my freelance writing career with no set schedule and no boss. Life is good and hopefully my body will continue to respond in kind.
-Orange County Metro Sheryll Alexander is a lifestyles writer based in Costa Mesa. She is a regular contributor to Orange County Metro magazine.
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