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Nine Effective Coping Skills for Eating Disorders

Written by In Balance Counseling on August 30, 2023. Posted in General.

If you’re living with bulimia or anorexia, you might look for coping skills for eating disorders. Below, we explain nine strategies to help you cope with eating disorders.

As a compassionate provider of counseling in Tucson, our team at In Balance Counseling helps patients manage their eating disorders and live healthier and happier lives. To see what our mental health professionals can do for you, call 520-722-9631.

1. Find a Support System

No one should deal with a mental illness alone, and having a strong support system is a major factor in successful treatment. Seek help both from a mental health professional and from your friends and family. If the people in your life remain unsupportive, ask your therapist for help finding a new social circle or support group.

2. Start Journaling

Journaling helps identify latent or subconscious emotions and offers a cathartic release. For the greatest effect, write about everything ranging from your failings and complaints about your day to positive affirmations and goals for your life.

3. Prioritize Relaxation

Stress and a perceived lack of control are significant triggering factors for eating disorders. Find time each day to do something you enjoy and relax. It can be a hot bath, spending time with a coloring book, or hanging in a hammock by a lake.

4. Practice Mediation

Emotion-oriented coping refers to the process of changing the way you feel about a situation. Practicing meditation and mindfulness allows you some control over how you react to stressful situations and better mitigates the compulsions and obsessions associated with eating disorders.

5. Try Yoga

One of the best coping skills for eating disorders is practicing regular yoga. The breathing techniques and concentration on bodily movement allow your body time to process and release endorphins and other neurotransmitters that increase your feeling of well-being.

Early research suggests that regular yoga decreases depression, body dysmorphia, and anxiety.

6. Find a New Hobby

Learning a new skill or hobby can bring greater joy to your life and distract you from those urges that tempt you to relapse. Eating disorders thrive on a lack of impulse control, so occupying your mind with consistent activity reduces the frequency of those impulses.

7. Increase Socialization

Much like finding a system for support is necessary, frequently engaging in social events can help you feel more control over your life, distract you from the disorder’s impulses, and increase the encouragement and accountability available to you.

8. Avoid Diet Culture

Avoidance-oriented coping refers to removing yourself from triggering situations. Avoid places and conversations that deal with diet culture, which is a toxic mindset for anyone dealing with an eating disorder.

9. Stay Mindful of Your Habits

Task-oriented coping strategies help you solve a problem or alter a situation. Work with your support system to identify harmful habits and routines around food and change them to support your new lifestyle.

In Balance Counseling Can Help You Cope With Eating Disorders

When you need help developing coping skills for eating disorders, seeking therapy with In Balance Counseling can help. For effective and compassionate support, book an appointment by calling 520-722-9631.

How To Seek Help for Mental Illness

Written by In Balance Counseling on July 30, 2023. Posted in Individual Counseling.

Are you experiencing some challenges with your mental health? Seeking therapy is an effective and safe way to help keep your mind healthy.

If you need counseling in Tucson, Arizona, why not reach out to In Balance Counseling? We’re standing by to help with highly trained and compassionate mental health professionals.

Keep reading to discover what to consider when you want to prioritize your mental health.

The Types of Mental Illness Treatment Providers From Which You Could Receive Help

If you want all the benefits of counseling, you need to understand who you can turn to. So, when finding a therapist or another type of mental illness treatment provider, consider the following:

Primary care doctors: General practitioners are what many people first think of when they hear the word ‘doctor.’ They’re capable of treating a wide variety of illnesses and can prescribe medicine for anxiety and depression.
Physician assistants: While some PAs hold doctoral degrees, many do not. However, they’re still qualified to treat physical and mental illnesses under a doctor’s supervision.
Nurse practitioners: These registered nurses obtain extra training. If they specialize in mental health, they can provide help to patients experiencing a mental health crisis.
Psychiatrists: As full medical doctors, psychiatrists specialize in mental health. Not only can they provide prescriptions for treatment, but they’re also qualified in talking therapy to help patients discover the emotional roots of their problems.
Psychologists: Because they’re not medical doctors, psychologists cannot prescribe medication. However, they still often obtain doctoral degrees in psychology and specialize in multiple forms of therapy.
Social workers: Do you need therapy in the context of social services? Social workers handle family trauma, parental abuse, the death of a parent, and more.
Psychiatric nurse specialists: These registered nurses don’t obtain the same level of training as a nurse practitioner. However, they specialize in mental illness and can provide better treatment than a generalized nurse.

What to Consider Before Seeking Treatment for Mental Health

If you’re seeking therapy, consider the following aspects before settling on someone to help you:

Your needs. Do you want a therapist with a specific specialty or beliefs? It’s okay to require a certain gender, culture, or religion that you identify with.
Accessibility. If you can’t or won’t visit a therapist in person, look for virtual options via phone or video conferencing. Many providers offer these alternatives.
Insurance. Does your insurance provide coverage for therapy? If so, which providers do they cover?
Affordability. If you don’t have adequate insurance, look for options you can afford. Look into providers with sliding scales based on income.
Reputation. Look at potential providers’ reviews to ascertain their effectiveness or style.

Once you know what you want, you can also reach out to friends and family, insurance providers, or general practitioners to find the treatment provider you need.

Reach Out to In Balance Counseling for Help

When you’re seeking therapy, you deserve compassionate and effective treatment that keeps your needs and daily life at the forefront. Whether you need therapy for anxiety, depression, or PTSD, In Balance Counseling can help. To book an appointment, call 520-722-9631.

How to Overcome Grief the Healthy Way: 4 Tips

Written by In Balance Counseling on June 30, 2023. Posted in General.

Grief finds us in many different ways. Most people associate it with the death of a loved one, which is certainly true. What many people fail to realize is that all sorts of loss can bring on grief. A relationship ending, job loss, or even financial struggles can all evoke this feeling.

Even though all sorts of circumstances cause grief, the feelings are similar. You have to learn how to move forward with your “new normal.” It’s easy to develop harmful habits while you learn how to overcome grief, but with a little mindfulness, you can navigate the grieving process while also caring for your own personal well-being.

You don’t have to cope on your own. In Balance Counseling provides compassionate grief counseling services in Tucson to help you on your journey.

1. Take Time to Process

It’s true that every person grieves differently. It’s also true that you can’t begin the grieving process without taking the time to process your trauma. Dissociating as a coping mechanism temporarily relieves the emotional pain, but it does not help you adjust to the circumstances.

Take the time to feel sadness, guilt, confusion, and any other feelings you have surrounding your loss. Once you begin to acknowledge the pain, you can start coping with grief.

2. Make Sure To Eat

When you feel extreme emotions associated with grief, you may not feel like eating at all, much less like maintaining a healthy diet. Keep food on hand that takes little to no effort from you, such as crackers, nuts, and snacks you enjoy that you can reach for to nibble on.

Even if you don’t feel hungry, if you force yourself to eat a little bit, your mind may realize that your body needs nourishment during your grieving process, and you will regain some of your appetite.

Drinking water while you’re in a state of grief is also vital. Crying dehydrates you faster than you may realize.

3. Don’t Isolate Yourself From Loved Ones

Many people self-isolate while they try to deal with extreme emotions. Instead of avoiding friends and family, lean on them for support. Simply turning to a friend to talk about the situation is a big step in learning how to overcome grief.

If you and your family members are coping with the same type of loss, take the time to check in with each other and talk about the way your lives have changed in the wake of a tragedy. Knowing you aren’t alone can bring a sense of peace as you learn to adjust.

4. Healing Through Talk Therapy

Keep in mind that grief is not linear. You may feel fantastic one day and devastated the next. Whatever you feel is valid, and having a few sad days doesn’t mean you will feel sad forever. If you struggle with learning how to overcome grief, you could suffer from effects of emotional trauma. Seeking support can help you cope with grief. Contact In Balance Counseling in Tucson, AZ, by calling 520-722-9631 to schedule counseling to begin your healing journey.

Author: In Balance Counseling