Steve Bryson

I have in the past blogged a bit about eating disorders. Now I would like to climb on a soap box because I have had yet another mishandled client with an eating disorder. I don't know if others would refer to me as an expert in the field of eating disorder treatment, but I do feel pretty conversant on the subject, and try to keep up with research (lets hear it for Pubmed). I am also aware that there sems to be some disagreement about the correct ways to treat these conditions. Few of us would disagree that the all too common E.R. intervention is unhelpful: "What is your problem? Are you so vain, so in love with your reflection that you would purposely do this to your family?" (actual quote from an E.R. physician).

Well, the holidays are here and as counselors we have a unique perspective on them. We all hear about neither allowing the holidays to become too rushed, nor too commercialized. But the general public only occasionally sees a movie or reads a story in the paper about the part of the holidays that we counselors regularly see: the reality of many of our clients is that the holidays are a horrible time. I myself am seeing people who are enduring the time, as they have bad memories from childhood, some who are grieving as they lost a loved one near the holidays, some who are having a difficult time pretending that their marriage is not ending, not wanting to announce it to the kids until after the holidays, so as not to dampen the festive spirit. I am seeing another whose seasonal affective disorder is in full bloom, but is feeling the need to cover with a happy face as "we are supposed to be happy this time of year". And some are dealing with the friend or relative who uses the holidays as an excuse to abuse substances at an even higher level than they usually do. Then there are the atheists who feel forced to participate so as not to get grief for being a grinch.

There has been some controversy developing in our field, and I wonder if any one else has been seeing it. It involves the recent change in the Federal guidelines about the enforcement of marijuana laws that differ from state laws. For those of you who don't know, the current Administration has directed the Justice Department not to interfere with states' medical marijuana laws, thus opening up availability of marijuana to patient use through primary provider prescription and the development of legal dispensaries.

It seems timely, as we head into the holiday season, to reflect on one of the hallmarks of holiday gatherings: eating. Through much of the year, eating has a less ritualistic function (aside from birthday cakes and summer barbeques) than the gatherings at the end of the calendar year. Most people who celebrate this season include eating related functions in which disordered eating is the norm. I don't intend for this blog to be a how-to guide for surviving the holiday food excesses. If you wish to explore this there are many great ideas on the web. Rather, I want to point out the opportunity for those of us who work with eating disorders (not disordered eating) to encourage the rest of the world to understand better the unique and tragic challenges people with eating disorders face.

I just returned from some much appreciated time off. I went into the backcountry of Montana for a week and then went to a conference: "Motivational Interviewing to Competence". Being refreshed and renewed, I found the conference enlightening, instructive and intriguing. As a "seasoned" counselor, I have observed over the decades many new perspectives on the counseliing process. Many of them have made important contributions to a field that some would say is nebulous and indefinable, more akin to art than science. While I adamantly disagree with the view that what we do is fluff, there have been times when the art of counseling took the limelight while the science sat in the background.