Alli Spotts-De Lazzer, M.A. - Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist - Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor - Certified Eating Disorders Specialist
Posted by in Uncategorized During a regular visit to the doctor, a friend’s pediatrician advised her 15-year-old to take semaglutide (e.g., Wegovy, Ozempic, GLP-1, or similar drugs). Let’s call the teenager “Leslie” for privacy reasons. Leslie trains for something analogous to gymnastics or competitive dance. They’re active, doing cardio-fitness for three to five hours, three to four days a week. And…Read more »
Posted by in Blog If you want to feel better about yourself, should you try improving your self-esteem or self-compassion? A journal article published on August 3, 2023, “A Narrative Review and Meta-Analysis on Their Links to Psychological Problems and Well-Being,” can help answer that question. Both self-concepts are assumed to play roles in well-being, which research supports. And both can…Read more »
Posted by in Blog I find self-acceptance easier to strive for and more sustainable than positive self-esteem. As a therapist, I’ve focused on the concept for a long time. The academic definition is “an individual’s acceptance of all of his/her attributes, positive or negative,” and science indicates that it’s linked to high self-esteem, interpersonal satisfaction, and affect regulation (Morgago et al.,…Read more »
Posted by in Blog Though treatment approaches for eating disorders have been evolving and improving, additional effective treatments are still needed. A recent study reviewing the impact of multifamily therapy on eating disorder symptoms and psychological distress in adolescents offers hope and potential help. Multifamily therapy means that the patients’ families meet because they face similar issues. They support, learn from, and provide…Read more »
Posted by in Blog There you are, in a vulnerable, intimate moment with your partner. Or maybe you’re just hanging out and feeling good in their company. Suddenly, they insinuate that you’re fat or need to change your body. It certainly happens often enough: A friend shared subtle examples of body-shaming she has experienced, such as romantic partners who…Read more »
Posted by in Blog Co-authored by Jessica Johns-Green You’re in your doctor’s office when “You need to lose weight” booms through the room. They offer Wegovy or Ozempic as a solution. I hear about this happening often. And as an eating and body image specialist, I have some questions. I’m not alone. For example, the topics of Ozempic and Wegovy dominated…Read more »
Posted by in Blog This past weekend, an article I ran into referenced obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in the category of neurodiversity. That surprised me. I’m a mental health clinician. As I’ve historically understood it, the diagnoses of autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), attention deficit hyper-activity disorder (ADHD), and certain sensory and learning disorders constitute the neurodiverse category. I thought that the words “neurodiverse” and “neurodiversity” meant the…Read more »
Posted by in Blog The idea of someone not skinny—let alone “fat”—with anorexia nervosa goes directly against how the disorder is depicted in the media. For example, when you think of anorexia, what image comes to your mind? Is it the gaunt model on the runway? The back view of the ultra-thin female curled up so you can see…Read more »
Posted by in Blog We know that social media use can negatively impact its users—for example, tanking their body image and fueling appearance comparisons. Nonetheless, these platforms are here to stay. So, we need doable antidotes to common problems that social media causes or magnifies. Luckily, a recent study provides simple, legitimate help. “Can following body-positive or appearance-neutral Facebook pages improve young women’s…Read more »
Posted by in Blog Each January, my favorite hiking trail gets flooded with people fulfilling their New Year’s resolutions to get fit. And shortly after, the crowds disappear. Every year this happens—partly because sudden lifestyle and behavioral changes are hard to maintain, especially if there aren’t immediate rewards. But I think it’s more likely because, as humans, we tend to miss the deeper, more hidden…Read more »