Avoidance and anxiety go hand in hand, and breaking the habit of avoidance is key to recovery. Anxiety is the most common mental health issue in America, affecting about 30% of adults.

As a Plano therapist specializing in anxiety disorders, I witness the damage of anxiety daily. I teach clients how to overcome anxiety by learning to lean into discomfort.

In my last blog post, I discussed how to improve body image problems. As an eating disorder therapist and anxiety therapist in Plano, TX, I talk about this topic every day with clients. It may seem just a rite of passage for kids. Yet, negative body image is linked to poor self-esteem, school problems, social anxiety, depression, and eating disorders.

My favorite definition of body image, from body image expert Signe Darpinian, is the image of your body you have in your mind, and how you feel about it. Many things influence how our body image develops, such as the people we spend time with, positive and negative life experiences, gender, and media.  

Feeling trapped in anxiety is miserable. You just wish you could STOP the relentless spiral, but you don't know where to start. And given that anxiety disorders are the most common mental health problem in America, it's important to know how to cope better. As a Plano anxiety therapist, I want to educate you about how to manage your anxiety better, and that starts with understanding how anxiety works in the brain and body.

Anxiety is a natural human response characterized by feelings of unease, worry, and fear. But for some, this worry and fear is so strong that it interferes with the ability to perform daily activities like work or school. Anxiety can also stand in the way of healthy relationships. As a Plano anxiety therapist, I love educating people about anxiety and how they can learn to manage it better so they can lead a calmer life.

If you're looking for a Plano therapist to help you with your food issues or body image issues, it’s likely you’re feeling a bit lost. What kind of professional even treats eating disorders? You’ve probably turned to Google to find out, but it’s hard to choose from the hundreds of therapists out there. Many of them list eating disorders on their website, but how do you know they can actually help? Should you choose a “specialist?” Keep reading for guidance in choosing the right Plano eating disorder counselor to help with disordered eating and body image issues. 

As a Plano eating disorder therapist, restriction is a topic I discuss daily with clients. On the surface, this probably makes sense. You probably assume that most of my eating disorder therapy clients have anorexia. But what if I told you that despite anorexia getting the most attention, binge eating disorder and bulimia are more common? And that restriction plays a huge role in these disorders, too? Keep reading to learn why this is important, and how I address it as a Certified Eating Disorders Specialist in Plano.

For the past few months, I've been on a mission to help you find counseling in Plano, Texas. Times have changed... what worked in the past doesn't work as easily now. I've conveniently pulled together all my blog post advice below. My specialties are eating disorder counseling (binge eating, overeating and emotional eating or anorexia and bulimia) and anxiety counseling, but the information below is good advice for any mental health challenges you face!

If you're looking for counseling in Plano in 2023, it's a tough road. As I've covered in recent posts here and here, many factors have created a very different landscape for counseling in Plano post-pandemic. In general, the therapy market is more crowded, health insurance has changed, and people have experienced so many personal changes that it's hard to know what kind of therapy to look for and where to find it. My Plano counseling clients tell me that post-pandemic they struggle more with anxiety and eating disorders than ever before, yet aren't sure which problem is the most distressing. This uncertainty can make it hard to take that first step in seeking out help for mental health challenges.

Looking for counseling in Plano, Texas has its challenges. I've covered some of these in recent blogs about how to find counseling in Plano and what to expect from counseling in Plano. Despite the growing acceptance of mental health services, there are still myths and misunderstandings that prevent people from seeking the help they need, even in a highly educated and achieving area like Plano. In this post, I'm going to address some of the most common myths I've come across and share my perspective as a Plano counselor who specializes in treating anxiety disorders and eating disorders.

Counseling in Plano can be life-changing. It can be a safe and confidential space to explore thoughts and feelings with the guidance of a trained professional. BUT it can also seem intimidating or even scary, and this can keep people from seeking it out. Moreover, those seeking counseling in Plano are typically achievement-oriented folks with high expectations for themselves and for their therapy outcomes, too. Below, I want to help alleviate fears of the unknowns about therapy and help you set reasonable expectations about what the journey will be like as you look for counseling in Plano to fit your needs.

Looking for counseling in Plano, Texas can be daunting. You know you’re struggling. You know you need someone to talk to. But you don’t know what to expect. Fear of the unknown keeps preventing you from taking that first step. With this blog post, I hope to remove the barriers to starting counseling. I want to help you find the best client/therapist fit possible!

If you’re looking for counseling in Plano, Texas to help with mental health issues, you’re wise to consider what questions to ask before you make that first appointment. I wrote a blog post about this several years ago, but the world has changed since then. Plano is more crowded than ever, anxiety disorders and eating disorders are on the rise, and there are more therapists in private practice. This makes it more important than ever to ask the right questions from the beginning.

Why is finding counseling in Plano, Texas so hard? Plano, Texas continues to top lists of best places to live in the US. Though home prices have risen, you still get a lot of bang for your buck. Neighborhoods are safe, and schools are excellent. Many large companies are based in Plano, making it a great place for jobs. A few years ago I wrote a blog about finding a counselor in Plano. But the world has changed. 

Therapists who treat binge eating will tell you they've been busier than ever in the past 2 years. Research indicates mental health issues have worsened since Covid-19 began, particularly among women and adolescents. All eating disorders worsened, as well, including binge eating.

It's no surprise that Binge Eating Disorder is on the rise. Every other mental health problem has surged in lockstep with the pandemic. A key component to Binge Eating Disorder recovery is a solid support system. I'm asked daily by clients how family and friends can support recovery. I get WAY too excited when someone reaches out asking how they can support a romantic partner or a family member. Sadly, this isn't common. Most of the time family and friends aren't aware that they're making the situation worse. Sometimes they don't want to change. It can be hard to know the right things to say or do. Here are my recommendations for supporting someone you care about as they work to end binge eating.

Are you struggling with eating disorder recovery? Do you also want to improve your body image but don't know where to start? For many, the body positivity movement seems great in theory, but also completely out of reach. In this blog post, I'll share the first step in fighting negative body image: learning to tolerate your body, even when you hate it. When you practice tolerating your body, you learn to endure discomfort, rather than make the situation worse by acting on eating disorder urges such as restricting, purging, using laxatives, overexercising, or binge eating.

As an eating disorder therapist in Plano, TX, a huge part of my work is helping clients improve body image in therapy. I do this, in part, by helping them change their media intake. Though this is difficult, I help clients understand why this is helpful, and how they can succeed. 

As Covid-19 has ravaged the world, so too has it negatively impacted those who suffer from eating disorders. Eating disorder recovery faces many challenges during the pandemic, and as a result eating disorder counseling may look different here lately.

Do you already know what you need to do to manage your anxiety, but you struggle to actually DO it? Congrats! You're normal! This is a complaint of almost all my clients as they are work on behavior change, especially when it involves something as seemingly simple as breathing. In my last blog post, I wrote about why, as a counselor for eating disorders in Plano, I teach breathing exercises to my clients. I also introduced several simple and effective breathing techniques. In this post, I share helpful tips for making these fit into your everyday life.