Patty James, MS, co-author of More Vegetables, Please!, shows how to make a delicious zuchinni pizza.

excerpt from Is He Depressed or What?

One method to use when you want to communicate your feelings, meanings, and intentions in the most direct and respectful way possible is by using the “Asking for Change” model. The use of I messages in this approach is specific, nonjudgmental, and focused on the speaker.

from Psych Central founder John M. Grohol, Psy.D.:

I’m pleased to announce the introduction of a new Psych Central blog, Healing Together for Couples. This blog will explore helping couples in a committed relationship learn how to heal from their hurts and past trauma, and is based in part on the book, Healing Together, by Suzanne Phillips and Dianne Kane.

read the rest of his piece "Introducing Healing Together for Couples Blog" here

visit "Healing Together for Couples" here

excerpt from Wise Mind, Open Mind

When dramatic shifts occur in our lives, we can become nearly paralyzed with fear, anger, grief, and resentment. We enter a state of shock and forget that with loss comes rebirth. On some level, we understand that we must design a new life, a new mandala, but we struggle between trying to figure out what we want to do next and being overwhelmed by the intense emotions associated with loss. Clinging to the past, we resist the opportunity to embrace the creative process that requires us to let go of the mind’s limited way of thinking about ourselves and the situation at hand. But if we can find the courage to enter this process, to experience the state of consciousness Buddhists call “open mind,” accessing our deepest, or core, creativity, we can begin to tune in to what we most want for ourselves. You can ensure that your new life is in sync with your deepest values. You can let go of your attachments to what was and what you thought would be. You can choose to let go of fear and trust that a palette of many colors, some of which you may never have seen before, will be available for creating a new mandala: a new life of beauty that’s in harmony with the song of the soul.

excerpt from Overcoming Night Eating Syndrome

As a night eater, this pattern of eating may seem foreign to you. You probably wake up in the morning with little or no appetite. Some night eaters force themselves to eat a little something to try to stay on some type of normal eating schedule. But even if you skip breakfast, you may not have an appetite even at lunchtime. By dinnertime your interest in food has returned and you will eat a great deal during and after dinner. You will not only keep on eating after dinner, but you often may continue eating until late at night. Perhaps you may even postpone your bedtime just to eat some more food. You may find it hard to fall asleep, and then you make wake up not long after going to sleep, and again later in the night. During these awakenings you may feel not only the need to eat, but also the fear that you will not be able to get back to sleep unless you eat some more.

Excerpt from The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook for Bulimia

As you think about bulimia nervosa, it’s important that you understand that each of the symptoms interacts with every other symptom. Typically, when you’re struggling with bulimia, your weight and body image have a very strong effect on how you feel about yourself. Therefore, if you believe your body isn’t perfect, you then decide that you’re not a valuable person, and you feel bad about yourself—embarrassed, guilty, angry, sad, and so on. This self-invalidation and negative self-evaluation leads you to feel compelled to change how you look so that you can feel better about yourself. Through the messages of Western culture (for instance, “You’re not in the healthy weight range” or “You look different from the women in magazines or on television”), you have learned to invalidate yourself and now believe that losing weight is one powerful way you can feel better.

by guest blogger Margo C. Watt, Ph.D., co-author of Overcoming the Fear of Fear

Like death and taxes, everyone is familiar with fear and anxiety. Speaking in public, watching a scary movie, or meeting a bear in the woods; all can elicit physical sensations that accompany feelings of fear and anxiety – racing heartbeat, shortness of breath, sweating, and dizziness. Although we often use the words "fear" and "anxiety" interchangeably, they are not exactly the same thing. Fear, for example, is the emotion we feel when we encounter a clear and present danger such as meeting a bear in the woods. Anxiety, on the other hand, is what we feel when we anticipate a fearful situation or event in the future (anticipating the bear in the woods).

Excerpt from The Binge Eating & Compulsive Overeating Workbook

Melinda, a patient, says of her binge eating disorder, “I eat and eat and I know that I should stop, but I can’t. I eat so much that I want to throw up, my stomach hurts, and I have to lie down. Sometimes, I feel like if I don’t eat everything I can get my hands on, I’ll explode.” Her words highlight the anguish that many people feel when food controls their lives.

Both binge eating disorder (BED) and compulsive overeating (CO) are conditions in which food is typically used for unhealthy reasons. People with BED or CO tend to feel powerless, and often lose hope that their behavior can change.