He's just not that into you (sorry)...

Attention ladies!

I'm going to make this one short and sweet.

If a guy likes you, he will make it known.  He will make effort to communicate with you.  He will flat out tell you. He will introduce you to his friends and family as his partner.  He will make sure you are okay.

Men are simple.  Take what they say and do at face value.  If they are not doing what I mentioned above, I'm sorry, he's not that into you.  Plain and simple.  No need for further analysis.

Another thing, men will do to you what you allow them to do.  If you don't like something they say or do, shut it down early.  If they continue, cut them loose.  Men will only change for the woman they know in their heart is the woman for them.  If a man is not trying to improve your relationship, he's just not that into you.

Unreciprocated feelings are the worst however they are like all other emotions:  they come and go if you do not hold them hostage.  It's going to feel like crap for a (long) while but it will pass.  Just remember that you deserve someone who will love all of you, treat you right and not string you along.

Never settle for less.

Take care,
Kimmy

Mental Health 101: Eating Disorders

Everyone has at some point in their life said to his/herself "I need to lose or gain a couple of pounds"and may adjust their diet accordingly.  However there are those who take it to extremes.  Eating disorders are abnormal eating habits that are harmful to one's health.  Eating disorders affect both men and women.  In the United States, eating disorders are more common than Alzheimer's disease.  In addition to abnormal eating habits, people with eating disorders engage in unhealthy behaviors such as  skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting and taking laxatives. 

There are three eating disorders in the DSM-IV-TR:  Anorexia, Bulimia, and Binge Eating Disorder. 

Symptoms of Anorexia include

• Refusal to maintain body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height.
• Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though underweight.
• Disturbance in the way one's body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of the current low body weight.
• Amenorrhea, i.e., the absence of at least 3 consecutive menstrual cycles. 

Symptoms of Bulimia include:

• Recurrent episodes of binge eating characterized by both eating, in a discrete period of time an amount of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat during the same time frame and a sense of lack of control over eating during the episode.
• Recurrent inappropriate compensatory behavior to prevent weight gain, such as self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives, diuretics, enemas, or other medications, fasting, or excessive exercise.
• The binge eating and inappropriate compensatory behavior both occur, on average, at least twice a week for 3 months.
• Self evaluation is unduly influenced by body shape and weight.

Symptoms of Binge Eating Disorder include:

• Loss of control over amount of eating
• Marked distress over binge episode
• Occurs at least 1x per week for 3 months
• Eating more rapidly than normal (i.e. 2 hr period)
• Eating until feeling uncomfortably full
• Eating large amounts of food when not feeling physically hungry
• Eating alone because of being embarrassed by how much one is eating
• Feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed or very guilty over after overeating

Treatment for eating disorders include adequate nutrition, reducing excessive exercise, and stopping purging behaviors. Specific forms of psychotherapy, or talk therapy, and medication are effective for many eating disorders.  However treating eating disorders can be expensive. For example, a residential program for anorexia can cost upwards of $30,000 a month.

If you think that you or someone you know may have a eating disorder, seek help from a doctor or mental health professional as soon as you can.  That's their job.  Here is some online resources.

www.nationaleatingdisorders.org
www.anad.org

Take care,
-Kimmy

Late Nights, Early Mornings

Greetings!

I'm just checking in...I've been working late a lot lately so I haven't had the chance to post anything because I'm sleeping.  I'm nodding my head as we speak.

School is fine...I'm taking two leadership classes and honestly they're quite boring.  I'm definitely a clinician.

I'm still waiting for the OK from the NBCC to take the LMHC exam.  I expect to go into crisis procrastination mode shortly.

I have two papers due Sunday but I'm going try to sneak a post in while I'm awake this weekend.  I plan on staying home.

I'm at a little over 5,000 views on the blog now...yay!  Thanks for reading :)

That's all I got...falling asleep in 5,4,3.....