Latest / She Rises with Ashy & Tijana / Mental health - we unpack it all ❤️🩹ft @mindfoodsteph
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Apodjay Production. Just a disclaimer. On today's episode, it's not
- 0:13Speaker 1: a substitute for psychological or medical advice. The podcast discussed
- 0:18Speaker 1: topics around mental health which may be triggering, so always
- 0:22Speaker 1: seek support.
- 0:23Speaker 2: We begin today by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the
- 0:26Speaker 2: land on which we gather today and pay our respects
- 0:29Speaker 2: to their elders past and present. We extend that respect
- 0:32Speaker 2: to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's here today.
- 0:38Speaker 3: Welcome to the Grow and Glow Podcast. I'm Ashy, I'm Kiara.
- 0:42Speaker 3: This is a podcast where we learn, laugh, and level
- 0:44Speaker 3: up together. Let's go deep, let the emotions flow, combine
- 0:47Speaker 3: the lessons to grow and glow. Nothing is off the
- 0:50Speaker 3: table with Grow and Glow, and we're here to be
- 0:52Speaker 3: your expander.
- 0:57Speaker 4: Hello everybody, Welcome back to Grow and Glow.
- 0:59Speaker 3: Very exciting day.
- 1:00Speaker 4: We have a guess, Yes, a guess that I've stalked
- 1:03Speaker 4: out on TikTok.
- 1:05Speaker 1: Places so cool, love TikTok.
- 1:07Speaker 4: It's so good, isn't it. Well, welcome step to the podcast.
- 1:10Speaker 4: We're so excited that you're here today.
- 1:11Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having me. I'm very excited
- 1:14Speaker 1: to be here. And yeah, very grateful, so I appreciate.
- 1:18Speaker 4: It before we get into the episode. Every single week
- 1:21Speaker 4: you do a share of the weeks, and we'd love
- 1:22Speaker 4: to ask you something that you're loving lately that's super interesting.
- 1:28Speaker 1: Mine's a quote that I came across last week and
- 1:31Speaker 1: I just I'm obsessed with it, and the quote is
- 1:35Speaker 1: the magic you're looking for is in the work you're
- 1:38Speaker 1: avoiding doing love love.
- 1:40Speaker 4: That That is so true, isn't that true? Really is?
- 1:44Speaker 1: Yeah?
- 1:45Speaker 4: Oh that's epic. So you're a psychologist and you work
- 1:48Speaker 4: in areas with mental health, eating disorders, body dysmorphia. Could
- 1:52Speaker 4: you tell us a little bit about your background and
- 1:54Speaker 4: what led you to do this kind of work you
- 1:55Speaker 4: do today.
- 1:56Speaker 1: Absolutely. So, I've been a registered psychologist for eight years
- 2:00Speaker 1: and then I just went back and did my clinical masters,
- 2:02Speaker 1: So I'm a clinical psychologist now and I've been in
- 2:06Speaker 1: the industry for a long time. I'm also a Bard
- 2:09Speaker 1: Approof supervisor, so I supervised psychology students. A published author,
- 2:13Speaker 1: so I've published a book, food Jail, Breaking the Bars
- 2:15Speaker 1: of binge Eating.
- 2:16Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, amazing.
- 2:18Speaker 1: Thank you. It's been a wild journey. And also have
- 2:21Speaker 1: a podcast whereas talk about mental health topics, but I
- 2:24Speaker 1: love creating content on social media. That's my favorite thing
- 2:28Speaker 1: to do with all my four degrees. Wow.
- 2:30Speaker 4: What is the difference between a psychologist and a clinical psychologist?
- 2:34Speaker 1: Good question. Basically more learning. It just takes a couple
- 2:38Speaker 1: more years to do clinical, but clinical psychology is more
- 2:42Speaker 1: heavily focused on assessment, diagnosis, treatment planning. You know a
- 2:47Speaker 1: little bit more about medication, and also the rebates are
- 2:51Speaker 1: a little bit different if you are going through medicare.
- 2:54Speaker 4: I feel that through your tiktoks that it feels like
- 2:56Speaker 4: you are a psychologist, but it feels like you're a
- 2:59Speaker 4: coach as well. I like how you kind of blend
- 3:01Speaker 4: it and just make it really easy to digest all
- 3:03Speaker 4: the information because a lot of the top are quite
- 3:05Speaker 4: triggering and hard to talk about, but you make it
- 3:08Speaker 4: easy to talk about. Yeah, I guess that's why you
- 3:11Speaker 4: love doing the social media side of things.
- 3:13Speaker 1: Yeah. We love to break it down, Yes.
- 3:15Speaker 4: Break it down, even for a TikTok where you opened
- 3:17Speaker 4: up a book and you're like, whatever I land on,
- 3:19Speaker 4: I'm going to see if I can like explain explain it.
- 3:23Speaker 4: It was so interesting, learn.
- 3:24Speaker 1: The disorder, Learn the disorder.
- 3:26Speaker 4: Yes, speaking of there's a lot that a lot of
- 3:29Speaker 4: people are really suffering with in today's society. You know,
- 3:31Speaker 4: that's anxiety, depression, OCD, ADHD. Are you able to break
- 3:36Speaker 4: them down and simplify them, because I think people kind
- 3:38Speaker 4: of say them just so willing nearly, like oh, I've
- 3:41Speaker 4: got anxiety or I'm OCD. Yeah it's my OCD, And
- 3:45Speaker 4: it's like, I think people actually need to have a
- 3:47Speaker 4: deeper understanding to what each of these are. So let's
- 3:49Speaker 4: start with depression.
- 3:51Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, So basically, there's a book called the DSM
- 3:54Speaker 1: five Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders, and
- 3:58Speaker 1: in that book there's different categories. So we've got our
- 4:01Speaker 1: mood disorders where depression would be and depression. Essentially, there
- 4:06Speaker 1: are different types, but the sort of most common one
- 4:09Speaker 1: we see is major depressive disorder, which is a low
- 4:13Speaker 1: mood on more days than not for most of the days,
- 4:17Speaker 1: loss of energy. Depressed mood changes to your appetite, feeling hopeless,
- 4:22Speaker 1: and that needs to happen for a minimum of two weeks.
- 4:25Speaker 1: But what makes something for disorder is that it is
- 4:28Speaker 1: affecting your day to date functioning. So people might say
- 4:31Speaker 1: I feel depressed or I feel anxious. But if it's
- 4:33Speaker 1: affecting your day to date life, going to work, going
- 4:37Speaker 1: to school, interacting with friends and family, then that's when
- 4:41Speaker 1: it's really classified a disorder.
- 4:43Speaker 4: It's hard with that word disorder because I feel like
- 4:47Speaker 4: it can become someone's identity. Yes, And I remember when
- 4:50Speaker 4: I was in my early twenties, it was affecting my
- 4:53Speaker 4: everyday life, like pulling my hair out, having panic attacks,
- 4:56Speaker 4: shaking on the floor, like could not control my breath,
- 4:59Speaker 4: didn't want to go to work, like it was affecting everything.
- 5:01Speaker 4: So I went to the doctor and they were like,
- 5:03Speaker 4: you have anxiety disorder, and you are that become my
- 5:06Speaker 4: identity for so long that I felt so incapable of
- 5:09Speaker 4: doing anything because I was depressed and anxious. Do you
- 5:13Speaker 4: think there's a certain way as a psychologist with how
- 5:16Speaker 4: you diagnose people and that language that you use so
- 5:18Speaker 4: that doesn't happen to people.
- 5:20Speaker 1: It's such a great point to bring up because you're
- 5:24Speaker 1: right sometimes people can identify with it in a good way,
- 5:28Speaker 1: but also in a bad ways in people love to
- 5:30Speaker 1: fit a template, right, and this is why we need
- 5:32Speaker 1: to be mindful of not self diagnosing on social media
- 5:35Speaker 1: or TikTok. So. I think the word disorder it just
- 5:40Speaker 1: helps us tack a certain criteria to meet a condition,
- 5:45Speaker 1: and the disorder helps inform treatment. So a lot of
- 5:47Speaker 1: people might say, oh, I don't like labels or I
- 5:50Speaker 1: don't want a name for what I'm going through, but
- 5:52Speaker 1: if you go to a doctor, you want to know
- 5:54Speaker 1: what's going on because that information, that label or that
- 5:58Speaker 1: disorder helps to inform the treatment. I agree the word
- 6:01Speaker 1: disorder isn't very helpful, especially for conditions such as ADHD,
- 6:07Speaker 1: which we'll go into, which is brain and more neuro based.
- 6:11Speaker 1: But yeah, I can definitely see why people might feel
- 6:15Speaker 1: that identifica.
- 6:16Speaker 4: Yeah, I think something that's helpful. When I came off
- 6:19Speaker 4: my medication and then started seeing a coach as I
- 6:22Speaker 4: kind of weaned off it, I remember them saying to me, like,
- 6:25Speaker 4: you are more than your anxiety and depression. That's not
- 6:28Speaker 4: just who you are. You're also very capable, You're also smart,
- 6:32Speaker 4: You're also fun. There's so many hats that Ashly wears
- 6:35Speaker 4: and so many parts of you that that's not all
- 6:37Speaker 4: you are. But hearing that from my doctor, that was
- 6:40Speaker 4: just all I became. So I just think it'd be
- 6:42Speaker 4: cool if there was that added on to their diagnosis.
- 6:45Speaker 1: I agree and saying I am someone who is experiencing
- 6:49Speaker 1: and that language someone who is experiencing a depressive epersode
- 6:55Speaker 1: rather than I am depressed. I am this because then
- 6:58Speaker 1: you become the disorder and that can be hard to
- 7:01Speaker 1: shift for people.
- 7:02Speaker 3: I can definitely relate to times in my life where
- 7:04Speaker 3: I've felt like like I couldn't escape it, like it
- 7:07Speaker 3: was a part of me.
- 7:08Speaker 4: Yeah, And I love what you said then, because then
- 7:10Speaker 4: it allows you to take radical responsibility. I don't want
- 7:12Speaker 4: to blame the doctors, but you're just saying that, like,
- 7:16Speaker 4: use that language on yourself, Like I am feeling depressed
- 7:18Speaker 4: right now. I'm going through really depressive season right now.
- 7:22Speaker 4: It helps to know that, Yeah, you can separate that
- 7:24Speaker 4: that's not just all you are.
- 7:25Speaker 1: Yeah, and it creates space to change. Yeah, aware of it.
- 7:29Speaker 4: So depression is a low state and mood for a
- 7:32Speaker 4: long period of time that it affects your day to
- 7:35Speaker 4: day living basically correct at least two weeks, at least
- 7:38Speaker 4: two weeks.
- 7:39Speaker 1: You have that for at least two years, then it's
- 7:41Speaker 1: persistent depressive disorder, also known as dysthymia.
- 7:44Speaker 4: Oh I've never heard that.
- 7:47Speaker 1: Dysthym that just means a low mood, a chronic low mood.
- 7:51Speaker 1: We've got em which is being elevated end is damn.
- 7:55Speaker 4: I've never heard of that.
- 7:57Speaker 1: It's more of like a long term, long standing depression.
- 8:00Speaker 4: Okay, And most people that experienced depression for a long
- 8:03Speaker 4: period of time, would you say that they are receiving
- 8:06Speaker 4: help and support emotionally or they just medicate it and
- 8:09Speaker 4: like that's just what they advise to do.
- 8:12Speaker 1: Every case is different, but what we do know is,
- 8:15Speaker 1: you know, one in four women will experience a depressive
- 8:18Speaker 1: episode in their lifetime, and if left unmanaged, there is
- 8:22Speaker 1: a fifty percent chance that it will come back.
- 8:24Speaker 4: Makes sense.
- 8:25Speaker 1: That's why it's so important to seek help even if
- 8:27Speaker 1: you're not sure, you know, go to the doctor or
- 8:30Speaker 1: speak to someone someone you trust to get that support
- 8:33Speaker 1: so it doesn't come back.
- 8:35Speaker 4: Yeah, Okay, let's unpack anxiety disorder, because that is one
- 8:39Speaker 4: that I just think majority of females. I know, I
- 8:42Speaker 4: don't think men speak about it as much, but I
- 8:44Speaker 4: do feel like more females stuffer with Is that true females.
- 8:48Speaker 1: Females are more likely to seek help. So when we
- 8:50Speaker 1: look at the statistics. We know, you know, one in
- 8:53Speaker 1: six people will have a mental health condition. Anxiety is
- 8:56Speaker 1: one of the more common ones. But I think there's
- 8:59Speaker 1: still a bit of stigma around men getting that support
- 9:02Speaker 1: or men recognizing it, because men can in turn symptoms
- 9:06Speaker 1: more whereas women we talk and we express it, and
- 9:09Speaker 1: we're more in tune with our feelings, so I think
- 9:11Speaker 1: it can be a bit trickier to identify in men.
- 9:15Speaker 1: But anxiety, there's six different types of anxiety. We've got
- 9:20Speaker 1: generalized anxiety disorder, which is the most common. So this
- 9:24Speaker 1: is having persistent, consistent worry for at least six months
- 9:29Speaker 1: in adults, So you worry about a number of things,
- 9:32Speaker 1: feel like you're losing control. You might get the physiological
- 9:35Speaker 1: symptoms racing heart, sweaty, sweaty, shaky, etc. You find it
- 9:40Speaker 1: hard to control the worry, and the worry occurs on
- 9:44Speaker 1: more days than it doesn't, and that impacts your day
- 9:47Speaker 1: to day functioning again, work relationships, being present for your family.
- 9:54Speaker 4: That's the first one, Okay, can we do the other thing?
- 9:57Speaker 1: So that we have got social anxiety disorder, which people
- 10:00Speaker 1: think is just being anxious in social situations, but it's
- 10:03Speaker 1: more than that. It's two main things. It's the fear
- 10:07Speaker 1: of being negatively evaluated or judged in social settings, or
- 10:12Speaker 1: the fear of embarrassing yourself. And again that comes with
- 10:16Speaker 1: the physiological symptoms, needs to be present for at least
- 10:19Speaker 1: six months, and it's also associated with a lot of avoidance.
- 10:23Speaker 1: So any anxiety disorder will come with avoidance, avoiding social situations,
- 10:28Speaker 1: avoiding opportunities, saying exactly.
- 10:31Speaker 4: Which is actually intimacy?
- 10:33Speaker 1: Is it intimacy things that are scary job opportunities?
- 10:38Speaker 4: What's the third one?
- 10:39Speaker 1: What's the third one? We've got phobias, so fear of spiers,
- 10:43Speaker 1: fear of flying, go yes. And then there's separation anxiety disorder. Yeah,
- 10:48Speaker 1: we see more in children, so the fear of separating
- 10:51Speaker 1: from a parental figure. They might be the main ones.
- 10:56Speaker 1: Illness anxiety disorder used to be called hyperchondriasis known as
- 11:00Speaker 1: health anxiety. Now, so this is a preoccupation that some
- 11:05Speaker 1: thing is wrong with you. So you might get a
- 11:07Speaker 1: sore throat and you think immediately I've got throat cancer.
- 11:10Speaker 1: You start googling, you start checking all the symptoms, and
- 11:13Speaker 1: because you're fixated on these symptoms, they can start to
- 11:16Speaker 1: feel a bit more intense and yeah, more aware. So
- 11:20Speaker 1: that's a big one, especially after COVID healths are.
- 11:23Speaker 4: Yes, I didn't realize how big it was. But even
- 11:26Speaker 4: me talking about my brain aneurysm so openly and calmly,
- 11:29Speaker 4: I can't count the amount of DMS that I've got, Like,
- 11:31Speaker 4: how do you not have anxiety? You didn't know you
- 11:33Speaker 4: had this a newism, You've been living with it for years.
- 11:35Speaker 4: And I could feel their panic through the DMS. I'm like, Wow,
- 11:38Speaker 4: this is a real thing. Like you said, they get
- 11:41Speaker 4: one little thing wrong and they automatically think. Like one
- 11:43Speaker 4: girl and she's like, oh my god, i've lost my
- 11:45Speaker 4: sight before and have blank vision. Does that mean I
- 11:47Speaker 4: have a brain in newism? Too scared to go get checked,
- 11:49Speaker 4: And I was like, oh, let's just take a breath.
- 11:52Speaker 4: You might just have a migraine. It's okay, let's not
- 11:54Speaker 4: jump to there. But it's a real thing for a
- 11:56Speaker 4: lot of people.
- 11:57Speaker 3: I had a really hard pregnancy with my first daughter,
- 12:00Speaker 3: and then in my second pregnancy with Lincoln, I was
- 12:03Speaker 3: so stressed. I was so worried, constantly worried that I
- 12:06Speaker 3: was doing the wrong thing, that like he wasn't okay.
- 12:09Speaker 3: So yeah, I definitely can relate to those feelings of
- 12:11Speaker 3: and even waiting in the like my blood pressure was
- 12:13Speaker 3: always super high and they're like, it's because you're just
- 12:16Speaker 3: here like to get checked, And I was just so
- 12:18Speaker 3: anxious to make sure he was safe and he was okay.
- 12:20Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, so interesting.
- 12:22Speaker 1: They're the main ones.
- 12:24Speaker 4: The separation anxiety with children. I'd love to unpack that
- 12:27Speaker 4: a little bit more because a lot of our audience
- 12:28Speaker 4: are mums and both my kids don't like going to
- 12:31Speaker 4: strangers and they like love to be close to us.
- 12:35Speaker 4: But where do you think that stems from? Like how
- 12:37Speaker 4: do some children feel safe to go to strangers and
- 12:39Speaker 4: others don't? What happens in the family dynamic to have
- 12:42Speaker 4: such different Because I have some friends that the kids
- 12:44Speaker 4: will go to anyone and everyone, And I'm like, if
- 12:46Speaker 4: I tried to hand my daughter to you, she'd be like,
- 12:48Speaker 4: no fucking way.
- 12:48Speaker 1: It's a case by case approach. But then there's also
- 12:51Speaker 1: a disorder where children go to strangers too much and
- 12:55Speaker 1: they have no sort of inhibition and not aware of
- 12:58Speaker 1: it at all. I think it's called a reactive attachment disorder.
- 13:01Speaker 4: Yeah, the hell Stix psychologist breaks these down. Yeah, made
- 13:04Speaker 4: me feel better about my kids not wanting to go
- 13:05Speaker 4: to strangers. She said, it means they've got a healthy
- 13:07Speaker 4: attachment with their primar.
- 13:08Speaker 1: Caref Yeah, they're aware and at the end of the day,
- 13:11Speaker 1: just remember, you know, if it's happening more often than not,
- 13:15Speaker 1: and it's causing distress and it's causing problems, and okay,
- 13:18Speaker 1: be aware of it. But no, I don't think there's
- 13:21Speaker 1: anything wrong with that at all. Like, it's good that
- 13:24Speaker 1: children are aware, and I think it's important that they
- 13:26Speaker 1: feel comfortable and safe with you.
- 13:30Speaker 4: I'm also glad that they're like that because I feel
- 13:33Speaker 4: like they would be approached by strangers, they'd be running
- 13:35Speaker 4: for the head. Yeah, they would be like, yeah, I'll
- 13:37Speaker 4: take your candy. Is there a specific.
- 13:40Speaker 3: Age where with the separation anxiety it really starts to
- 13:43Speaker 3: kind of tend to happen, Like is it around school
- 13:45Speaker 3: age or is it?
- 13:47Speaker 1: Yeah, good question. We definitely see school age. I think
- 13:50Speaker 1: that's the most common because that's when they really start
- 13:53Speaker 1: to separate, go to school and separation anxiety. It is normal.
- 13:58Speaker 1: You know, if you're dropping your kids off and they cry,
- 14:01Speaker 1: that's fine. It's more the child cannot be a lot
- 14:05Speaker 1: for you know, small periods of time. I'm very distressed,
- 14:09Speaker 1: they're crying out, and there's more to that. It's more
- 14:12Speaker 1: there's a fear that something bad is going to happen
- 14:15Speaker 1: to the parents. So the children might say, Mummy, I'm scared,
- 14:18Speaker 1: you know, you're going to die, or they have nightmares
- 14:21Speaker 1: or something bad happening to the parent. So it's his
- 14:23Speaker 1: fear that something bad is going to happen to the parent.
- 14:26Speaker 4: Oh that's so heartbreaking, broken down like that.
- 14:30Speaker 1: Yeah, and it might come from experience, if the parents
- 14:32Speaker 1: spent prolong time in hospital and more true around and yeah,
- 14:37Speaker 1: it just really is a case by case.
- 14:39Speaker 4: I've heard energetically age seven this might be a bit wooo,
- 14:43Speaker 4: but age seven is when they energetically unplugged their umbilical
- 14:47Speaker 4: cord from you, and that's when they like separate a
- 14:50Speaker 4: bit more and they feel more comfortable to be on
- 14:52Speaker 4: their own. They're their own person, they have their own voice.
- 14:54Speaker 4: And I definitely saw a massive shift in Taj. I
- 14:57Speaker 4: think he was a little bit anxious attached at the start,
- 15:00Speaker 4: but I feel like now he's just so independent and
- 15:03Speaker 4: strong and his own person. I've felt that like unpluck
- 15:08Speaker 4: heard that before. Yeah, I believe it too interesting. Can
- 15:12Speaker 4: we go over body dysmorphia? I think this is this
- 15:15Speaker 4: something that's relatively new.
- 15:17Speaker 1: Good question. I think it's become more common and more
- 15:21Speaker 1: people are aware of it. Okay, So body dysmorphic disorder,
- 15:25Speaker 1: it's actually from the sort of obsessive, impulsive type of disorder.
- 15:32Speaker 1: It's not an eating disorder, but it does have links
- 15:35Speaker 1: to eating disorders. So body dysmorphic disorder is the preoccupation
- 15:40Speaker 1: with a real or perceived flaw in your appearance or
- 15:43Speaker 1: a minor defect. So, for example, you might have a
- 15:45Speaker 1: bump in your nose and you're so self conscious of
- 15:48Speaker 1: that that you spend hours a day mirror checking hiding
- 15:52Speaker 1: your nose, or you spend no time looking in the mirror.
- 15:55Speaker 1: So you've either got frequent checkers frequent avoids. And these
- 15:59Speaker 1: are the people you see on those TV shows like
- 16:02Speaker 1: that get all these plastic surgeries, and it's very extreme,
- 16:05Speaker 1: and it usually isn't figured out until this person has
- 16:09Speaker 1: had all these nose jobs and then adoptor's like, hey,
- 16:12Speaker 1: I think there's something psychological here that's going on. So
- 16:16Speaker 1: it's more than just your body thin, overweight, whatever it
- 16:19Speaker 1: might be. It's an actual part. It could be skin,
- 16:22Speaker 1: it could be hair, it could be your ears, it
- 16:25Speaker 1: could be your calves, it could be any part of
- 16:28Speaker 1: your body. But it causes significant distress.
- 16:32Speaker 4: Right because I think that is one that gets thrown
- 16:34Speaker 4: around quite casually, like I've got body dysmorphia, Like I
- 16:37Speaker 4: think I look skinny, it think it looks fat, and
- 16:39Speaker 4: it's just almost joked about.
- 16:41Speaker 1: Yeah it does, and look. People can definitely have traits
- 16:44Speaker 1: of disorders. You can definitely have days where you feel
- 16:48Speaker 1: larger than you actually are and.
- 16:50Speaker 4: Wait before your period for.
- 16:51Speaker 1: Yet, I think you know, it's normally okay to have
- 16:54Speaker 1: traits of all these different things we're talking about today,
- 16:56Speaker 1: but it's the level of distress and impact on your life.
- 17:00Speaker 1: And body dysmorphic disorder actually has one of the highest
- 17:04Speaker 1: mortality rates because people do take their life because they've
- 17:07Speaker 1: had the nose job or they've had the operation. They
- 17:09Speaker 1: still feel the same. They don't know it's psychological.
- 17:12Speaker 4: Wow, that's how serious it is. I mean, like so
- 17:16Speaker 4: many of these are so normalized and joked about, but
- 17:18Speaker 4: it's not something to joke about.
- 17:21Speaker 1: Research has shown that people who spend at least thirty
- 17:23Speaker 1: minutes a day on social media, are more likely to
- 17:26Speaker 1: see their own body in a negative light wow, and
- 17:29Speaker 1: be more aware of their body. So I think the
- 17:31Speaker 1: rise of social media has definitely contributed and reinforced people's
- 17:35Speaker 1: dissatisfaction with their appearance, especially with filters, especially with you know,
- 17:40Speaker 1: all the things that people do to look effective and
- 17:43Speaker 1: look beautiful on social media. I think it's not reported
- 17:48Speaker 1: enough because people think it's not a psychological thing. I
- 17:52Speaker 1: just hate my nose, I just hate my forehead, so
- 17:55Speaker 1: they won't go seek help. So I think it's underreported,
- 17:58Speaker 1: but it's definitely more common than we think. It's just
- 18:02Speaker 1: normalized because everyone's like, oh, yeah, I hate this, Yeah,
- 18:05Speaker 1: I hate this. You know in Mean Girls, the movie
- 18:09Speaker 1: how they all like, what are you not like about yourself?
- 18:13Speaker 1: And the girls like, I have really bad breath in
- 18:14Speaker 1: the morning and she couldn't identify it. So it's so
- 18:17Speaker 1: normal for us to pick on flaws in our appearance
- 18:19Speaker 1: and we almost bond over that.
- 18:21Speaker 4: Yes, I wouldn't think that would be ever something I
- 18:24Speaker 4: would go to a psychologist about. Is like, oh I
- 18:27Speaker 4: don't like my stomach. Yeah, So that's important for people
- 18:30Speaker 4: to hear that if you are struggling with this, and
- 18:32Speaker 4: like you said, all of these disorders and mental health issues,
- 18:35Speaker 4: if it's affecting your day to day life and for
- 18:37Speaker 4: a long period of time, you should be seeking help,
- 18:40Speaker 4: right absolutely, yes, yeah, And let's move on to OCD ah.
- 18:44Speaker 1: Yes. Obsessive compulsive disorder. So this comes from the obsessive
- 18:50Speaker 1: and compulsive category of the DSM five and it's characterized
- 18:54Speaker 1: by having intrusive thoughts or obsessive thoughts which cause anxiety,
- 19:00Speaker 1: and then in an attempt to get rid of that anxiety,
- 19:02Speaker 1: people engage in rituals or behaviors trying to neutralize or
- 19:07Speaker 1: get rid of the anxiety. So, for example, you might
- 19:10Speaker 1: touch a doorhandle and think, oh my gosh, I've got germs,
- 19:13Speaker 1: I'm gonna get sick and need to do something otherwise
- 19:16Speaker 1: I'm going to die, and so you wash your hands
- 19:19Speaker 1: to get rid of the anxiety that the thought brings.
- 19:23Speaker 1: But again, this causes so much distress. People can spend
- 19:27Speaker 1: up to six hours a day thinking about this or more.
- 19:32Speaker 1: I've had people washing their hands sixty nine times a day,
- 19:35Speaker 1: you know. And there's different categories. So you've got germophobia,
- 19:39Speaker 1: which is the percupation of gems and contamination. You can
- 19:43Speaker 1: have hoarding disorder, you can have you know, religious OCD.
- 19:47Speaker 1: You can have intrusive thoughts.
- 19:49Speaker 4: Around religious OCD. What's that?
- 19:51Speaker 1: Yeah, just having sort of strange preoccupations and thoughts around
- 19:57Speaker 1: doing certain things, having specific rituals, and if you don't
- 20:01Speaker 1: do that, something bad's going to happen.
- 20:03Speaker 4: I spoke about an episode when Steve goes away and
- 20:06Speaker 4: how nervous I get. I suppose I have traits of
- 20:08Speaker 4: OCD because I go around and lock the doors a
- 20:10Speaker 4: million times, and when I lay there, I go and
- 20:12Speaker 4: check them again, feeling paranoid that I haven't locked the doors. Yes,
- 20:16Speaker 4: And then my whole night I just don't sleep when
- 20:18Speaker 4: he's not there because I'm constantly worried if something's going
- 20:21Speaker 4: to happen, and I think of these crazy scenarios and
- 20:24Speaker 4: things that can happen, and I'll go lock the doors again,
- 20:26Speaker 4: I'll check on the kids again, and it's just so consuming.
- 20:29Speaker 4: But it only happens when my husband goes away.
- 20:31Speaker 1: And I think a really important thing to ask yourself,
- 20:34Speaker 1: And this is what I tell all the people I
- 20:36Speaker 1: work with, is given the circumstance, is it reasonable? And
- 20:40Speaker 1: I think, given the circumstance that your husband's away, it's
- 20:43Speaker 1: reasonable to want to check the doors. Yeah, but say
- 20:46Speaker 1: you're checking the doors three times a day when there's
- 20:49Speaker 1: been no reason to and it's causing distress, then okay,
- 20:52Speaker 1: maybe it's not reasonable given the circumstances. Similar with your
- 20:56Speaker 1: pregnancy story earlier. Given the circumstances, I think it's really
- 21:00Speaker 1: reasonable to have a bit of help.
- 21:02Speaker 4: That's very validating, I think for people to hear. And
- 21:05Speaker 4: there's also like, I mean, simple solution for me is
- 21:07Speaker 4: when he goes away, I have girlfriends stay open now
- 21:10Speaker 4: and like when they're there, I don't even think about it.
- 21:11Speaker 4: I might like have a moment to get scared and
- 21:14Speaker 4: I'm like, no, I'm okay, someone else is here. I've
- 21:15Speaker 4: got a new neighbor and I feel safe of just
- 21:18Speaker 4: having his number. So I've put things in place that
- 21:20Speaker 4: helps like ease it a little bit now, which is.
- 21:22Speaker 1: Cool, perfect and just being aware of it. And yeah,
- 21:25Speaker 1: I think what you said earlier, I think we can
- 21:27Speaker 1: throw around the term oh it's my OCD or. But
- 21:30Speaker 1: what PHO don't realize is just how debilitating it is.
- 21:35Speaker 1: You know, people are not leaving their houses. People are
- 21:39Speaker 1: carrying around certain sanitizers or things to just be able
- 21:43Speaker 1: to take their kids to the park.
- 21:45Speaker 4: Consuming, right, just consuming.
- 21:47Speaker 1: Especially for loved ones and partners if left unmanaged, Yeah,
- 21:52Speaker 1: that can turn into a goraphobia and not wanting to
- 21:54Speaker 1: leave your home.
- 21:55Speaker 3: So even the effects on your body itself through so
- 21:59Speaker 3: much stress.
- 22:00Speaker 1: Yes, Yeah.
- 22:01Speaker 4: When I spoke about that episode with the intrusive thoughts,
- 22:04Speaker 4: I had one mom so that she totally relates, but
- 22:06Speaker 4: on a whole new level of like she won't take
- 22:08Speaker 4: her kids to the park, she won't go grocery shopping.
- 22:10Speaker 4: She does like the auder online it's delivered because she's
- 22:13Speaker 4: so scared of something happening to her children. Then imagine
- 22:16Speaker 4: her kids growing up with that. They're now going to
- 22:18Speaker 4: be too scared because they think the world's so scary,
- 22:20Speaker 4: thing's going to happen, Like it's a role on effect.
- 22:22Speaker 1: And they witness these and there's strong genetic vulnerability as
- 22:26Speaker 1: well if a parent has OCD. But I think the
- 22:29Speaker 1: main difference is people can have intrusive thoughts and like, oh,
- 22:32Speaker 1: that was a bit uncomfortable. Ninety percent of people do
- 22:35Speaker 1: have intrusive thoughts, but it's the fear that it's actually
- 22:39Speaker 1: going to play out or you're going to act on it,
- 22:41Speaker 1: like you might have an intrusive thought of with your
- 22:43Speaker 1: mother in law or something. But people are worried they're
- 22:46Speaker 1: going to actually act it out or they are going
- 22:48Speaker 1: to do something to their baby or their child.
- 22:51Speaker 4: Yeah, and that's when once again you would seek help exactly.
- 22:54Speaker 2: Yes.
- 22:54Speaker 3: Yeah, and then we've got ADHD.
- 22:57Speaker 4: Yeah. I have a lot of like questions around this
- 23:00Speaker 4: because this is just all over social media. I feel
- 23:02Speaker 4: like everyone is self diagnosing. I don't know if it's
- 23:04Speaker 4: been over die knows to children as well, But I
- 23:06Speaker 4: would love to unpark this a lot deeper with you.
- 23:09Speaker 4: What is it to start with?
- 23:10Speaker 1: Yeah, So, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a type of
- 23:15Speaker 1: neuro developmental disorder, which means it happens in the brain
- 23:20Speaker 1: and you're born with it. So all that means is
- 23:22Speaker 1: we have this part of our brain here frontal lobe,
- 23:25Speaker 1: which is responsible for executive functioning, our organizing, our planning,
- 23:29Speaker 1: our processing, speed, ability to do tasks, get started on tasks,
- 23:34Speaker 1: and people with ADHD struggle with this because the way
- 23:39Speaker 1: the brain was you know, typically expected to develop developed
- 23:43Speaker 1: a bit differently, and this is why it's called neurodivergent
- 23:46Speaker 1: because the brain has developed in a different way, and
- 23:50Speaker 1: people with ADHD struggle with these parts of life organizing, planning, cooking.
- 23:57Speaker 1: It's called your executive functioning. So if you think of
- 24:00Speaker 1: that part of your brain as the CEO, it's the
- 24:02Speaker 1: executive to get stuff done. And people that actually have
- 24:07Speaker 1: lower levels of access to dopamine and not epinephrin.
- 24:12Speaker 4: Yeah, what's that second one?
- 24:14Speaker 1: Yeah, So not epinephrine is the neurotransmitter that helps you
- 24:17Speaker 1: get started on tasks, that says, Okay, we need to go,
- 24:20Speaker 1: we need to initiate. So that's why they procrastinate, and
- 24:24Speaker 1: then the procrastination leads to anxiety and then that leads
- 24:27Speaker 1: to a whole self worth spiral. Yeah yeah. Whereas dopamine
- 24:31Speaker 1: is the feel good hormone, it's that pleasure seeking and
- 24:36Speaker 1: because people that actually have lower levels, they're searching for
- 24:39Speaker 1: it in other places, so food, you know, risky behavior,
- 24:43Speaker 1: there's impulsivity there, substance use disorders, and that's sort of
- 24:48Speaker 1: the main characteristics of it.
- 24:51Speaker 3: Hey again, you get that from doing coal plunges, don't you.
- 24:57Speaker 3: Doesn't that give me because that's why when I'm struggling
- 24:59Speaker 3: to focus or.
- 24:59Speaker 4: Jump in the pool because I heard.
- 25:01Speaker 1: Someone talk about that before. And focus, focus, concentrate, maintaining
- 25:06Speaker 1: your focus. They're a big part of ADHD. So people
- 25:09Speaker 1: with ADHD struggle with that. There's three types. So there's
- 25:13Speaker 1: the inattentive ADHD profile, which is more struggling to focus
- 25:19Speaker 1: maintain that awareness. And then there's the hyperactive impulsive one
- 25:23Speaker 1: and that's sort of the kids you see jumping on
- 25:26Speaker 1: the chairs, and it was under diagnosed back in the
- 25:29Speaker 1: day because it looks different in women. They may not
- 25:32Speaker 1: have this hyperactive impulsive type of presentation. And then there's
- 25:37Speaker 1: the combined which is inattention and hyperactivity impulsivity combined.
- 25:42Speaker 4: Wow, how is it diagnosed?
- 25:45Speaker 1: Yeah?
- 25:45Speaker 4: Really good, that's a good question.
- 25:47Speaker 1: So who can diagnose it? A psychologist and a psychiatrist
- 25:51Speaker 1: In adults, I'm gonna speak more about adults ADHD. It's
- 25:55Speaker 1: diagnosed by doing a clinical interview. So first your clinician
- 25:59Speaker 1: will go through your history, your schooling, understanding your symptoms,
- 26:03Speaker 1: is there ADHD in your family, and this is a
- 26:06Speaker 1: pretty standard process for any diagnosis, any assessment, and then
- 26:10Speaker 1: we use a range of questionnaires and assessments so that
- 26:14Speaker 1: look at how your brain is operating the way you
- 26:17Speaker 1: think impulsivity focus. But it has to have been occurring
- 26:22Speaker 1: for a long time. So if you're someone who's just
- 26:25Speaker 1: noticed you're struggling with attention and focus, but it hasn't
- 26:29Speaker 1: really been a problem, it's probably likely to be something else. Yeah,
- 26:33Speaker 1: So when we do those assessments, we look at the data,
- 26:36Speaker 1: we're able to track it back. It's been present since
- 26:39Speaker 1: childhood and it's still affecting your day to day life
- 26:42Speaker 1: as well.
- 26:44Speaker 4: Yeah, so hearing some of the traits that these people
- 26:47Speaker 4: are suffering with, is that why do you think people
- 26:51Speaker 4: are self diagnosing because they're just like, oh, I can't concentrate,
- 26:53Speaker 4: I've got ADHD.
- 26:54Speaker 1: Many people who do think they have it do have
- 26:57Speaker 1: it a lot of the time, and the reason is
- 27:01Speaker 1: because it wasn't picked up on anywhere. Right children, as
- 27:06Speaker 1: young women, you sort of sit at the back of
- 27:08Speaker 1: the classroom, you like, don't pick me, don't pick me.
- 27:10Speaker 1: You sort of get by, and especially in the younger years,
- 27:14Speaker 1: you know, kids are sort of pushed through and encouraged
- 27:16Speaker 1: and if you don't have that overly hyperactive presentation, then
- 27:21Speaker 1: it's not really picked up on. Women can internalize a
- 27:24Speaker 1: little bit more that impulsivity in hyperactivity is more in
- 27:28Speaker 1: your thoughts, overthinking, you know, analyzing, going back over your steps.
- 27:33Speaker 1: And to answer your question Ash.
- 27:36Speaker 4: Which was just about having a self diagnosing because they
- 27:40Speaker 4: have one symptom of a concentrator, I'm so unproductive.
- 27:44Speaker 1: Yes, yes, and I think it's important to know that, yes,
- 27:46Speaker 1: we all have those symptoms at some point in your life,
- 27:50Speaker 1: retired and if we have it. But this causes a
- 27:53Speaker 1: lot of distress. There's also emotion, just regulation, struggling to
- 27:57Speaker 1: control your emotions. It affects your relationships because you're impulsive.
- 28:02Speaker 1: You might jump from relationship to relationship. Your jobs, people
- 28:06Speaker 1: might jump from job to job. It affects your self worth.
- 28:09Speaker 1: And eighty percent of people with ADHD have another comorbid
- 28:13Speaker 1: mental health condition such as anxiety or depression.
- 28:16Speaker 4: Yeah, I know this is controversial, but do you think
- 28:20Speaker 4: that our lifestyle and diet contributes to this?
- 28:24Speaker 1: Yeah, one hundred percent. I think it is a controversial,
- 28:28Speaker 1: challenging topic. But we are so overstimulated in today's.
- 28:33Speaker 4: Society, over consuming so much.
- 28:36Speaker 1: My tension span has changed and I don't have ADHD.
- 28:39Speaker 1: You know, even just watching a video, I put it
- 28:42Speaker 1: on fast speed, like why are they talking so slow?
- 28:45Speaker 4: You know podcasts too.
- 28:47Speaker 1: Yeah, and it plays a big role, especially your upbringing.
- 28:51Speaker 1: You know, if you were around our parents, or you
- 28:54Speaker 1: were you know, witnessing I guess in attention or you
- 28:58Speaker 1: know food. Yes, it can all play a role, but
- 29:00Speaker 1: we need to remember that there's usually multiple things that, yeah,
- 29:04Speaker 1: contribute to it.
- 29:05Speaker 4: They have done studies with some children when they change
- 29:07Speaker 4: their diet that like so many of the symptoms decrease,
- 29:10Speaker 4: and then they don't actually put them on medication because
- 29:12Speaker 4: it is manageable through a lot of their lifestyle choices,
- 29:15Speaker 4: which is pretty cool, I think for people to explore
- 29:17Speaker 4: before they go on medication.
- 29:19Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 29:19Speaker 4: Absolutely, I'm saying that with such a question because I'm
- 29:21Speaker 4: wondering and it's.
- 29:23Speaker 1: A tricky one, right because ADHD medication is very different
- 29:26Speaker 1: to say, antidepressants and anti anxiety. Oh okay, how yeah,
- 29:31Speaker 1: So ADHD medication are usually stimulants. So stimulants stimulate the
- 29:36Speaker 1: frontal lobe and they quieten the noise, so people they
- 29:39Speaker 1: actually can focus on one thing at a time, similar
- 29:42Speaker 1: to caffeine. Right, you feel a bit like more switched on. Right,
- 29:46Speaker 1: You're ready to go? And with ADHD meds, and I
- 29:49Speaker 1: just want to put a disclaimer. I'm not a psychiatrist.
- 29:51Speaker 1: I'm not a doctor, but have studied psychopharmacology so I
- 29:55Speaker 1: know a bit about it. You don't need to take
- 29:57Speaker 1: it every single day like an antidepressant. With antidepressants or
- 30:01Speaker 1: anti anxiety, it needs to be really consistent, whereas your stimulate.
- 30:05Speaker 1: If you've got a really busy day at work, you
- 30:07Speaker 1: can take it and it's kind of like Cinderella at
- 30:09Speaker 1: twelve o'clock, you can go back to being a pumpkin.
- 30:12Speaker 1: You know, not thank you, but the effects will wear off.
- 30:16Speaker 1: But everyone is such a case by case approach. Some
- 30:19Speaker 1: people may not need or want medication. Some people may
- 30:23Speaker 1: find it really useful. So yes, if you can notice
- 30:27Speaker 1: changes without having to go on meds, that's amazing. But
- 30:30Speaker 1: I also think there's a lot of stigma around medication
- 30:32Speaker 1: as well.
- 30:33Speaker 4: Yeah, because I've got a girlfriend who recently got diagnosed,
- 30:36Speaker 4: and she's recently gone on medication, and she has tried
- 30:40Speaker 4: being really healthy and doing all these things, but exactly
- 30:42Speaker 4: how you explain. Now, she doesn't take it every day,
- 30:44Speaker 4: but most days she does, and now she's like I
- 30:46Speaker 4: can actually concentrate and finish one task and then move
- 30:49Speaker 4: on to the next where she felt like she had
- 30:51Speaker 4: one hundred tabs open all the time, and just then
- 30:53Speaker 4: we'll get overwhelmed and throw it all and go distract
- 30:56Speaker 4: and watch TV yes, or like go party or go
- 30:58Speaker 4: do something because it was just too much. Because now
- 31:00Speaker 4: she feels like a brain can be like, Okay, I've
- 31:02Speaker 4: got to get this task done. I can get it done.
- 31:04Speaker 3: Yeah.
- 31:05Speaker 4: Interesting it is and what works, you.
- 31:07Speaker 1: Know, if you find it's helpful. And I'm all about
- 31:10Speaker 1: using other strategies as well, but if someone does have
- 31:13Speaker 1: stigma around medication, I really encourage them to explore it
- 31:16Speaker 1: and explore Wedthers has come from.
- 31:18Speaker 3: You know.
- 31:19Speaker 1: I had a DM recently from a girl saying I'm
- 31:21Speaker 1: really sure I have it, but my mum's very spiritual
- 31:24Speaker 1: and doesn't believe in it, and I don't know how
- 31:25Speaker 1: to navigate that, so it's tricky.
- 31:28Speaker 4: Another one I just thought of that i'd love you
- 31:30Speaker 4: to talk about is binge eating. Yeah, that seems really
- 31:33Speaker 4: really common, so.
- 31:35Speaker 1: Common with people with ADHD, but also not with ADHD,
- 31:39Speaker 1: and I think there was a rise the number of
- 31:41Speaker 1: people who struggled with binge eating throughout COVID escalated because
- 31:45Speaker 1: we didn't have access to things that gave us dopamine,
- 31:49Speaker 1: the gym, we couldn't see our friends. We go out
- 31:51Speaker 1: to restaurants, so food became that dopamine sensation seeking thing.
- 31:58Speaker 1: It's easily accessible. There's a lot less judgment around that
- 32:01Speaker 1: compared to say drugs or alcohol, isn't it? That's so true? Yeah,
- 32:06Speaker 1: but a large percentage of people, women especially do struggle
- 32:10Speaker 1: with binge eating. And then we've got binge eating disorder,
- 32:13Speaker 1: which comes in the eating disorder category.
- 32:16Speaker 4: What kind of help is that out there for binge eating?
- 32:18Speaker 4: Like it's obviously not medication you can go on?
- 32:20Speaker 1: Or is it with binge eating disorder? It's one of
- 32:23Speaker 1: those eating disorders. It's not always about weight, shape and size.
- 32:26Speaker 1: People might be binge eating because there's trauma.
- 32:29Speaker 4: It's like a distractional way to a coping mechanism, right.
- 32:32Speaker 1: Copin mechanism. Maybe something happened when they were younger, and
- 32:35Speaker 1: they're eating to make themselves be what they perceive is undesirable.
- 32:39Speaker 1: So they don't get attention because something might have happened
- 32:42Speaker 1: when they were young. But in terms of treatment, it's
- 32:44Speaker 1: really important to focus on eating structure, making sure the
- 32:48Speaker 1: person's eating throughout the day, because many people will not
- 32:51Speaker 1: eat throughout the day and then the binge eating happens
- 32:54Speaker 1: at night. Right. Emotion regulation, making sure they've got strategies
- 32:58Speaker 1: so they're not using food to self regulate, and then
- 33:01Speaker 1: just working on body image and self worth because that
- 33:04Speaker 1: really enforces dissatisfaction.
- 33:07Speaker 4: Beautiful, and that's probably working with someone like yourself for
- 33:10Speaker 4: a longer period of time. Yes, it's not a one session.
- 33:15Speaker 1: Disorders take one to six years to really really manage.
- 33:21Speaker 4: And say, in the last six months twelve months, what
- 33:24Speaker 4: would you say is the most prominent issue that women
- 33:26Speaker 4: are struggling with.
- 33:27Speaker 1: Oh, that's a good one. Initially you want to say
- 33:30Speaker 1: anxiety depression, but I believe there's symptoms of other things. Yes,
- 33:36Speaker 1: because obviously when you see a doctor, they have to
- 33:38Speaker 1: put something on your mental health plan to see a
- 33:41Speaker 1: psych and anxiety and depression is sort of the really
- 33:45Speaker 1: standard symptoms we get. But I think eating disorders are
- 33:50Speaker 1: so prominent. One in four women who go on a
- 33:53Speaker 1: diet or restrict at some point will go on to
- 33:56Speaker 1: develop disordered eating or an eating disorder, but they don't
- 34:00Speaker 1: often get help for that. It's the side effects, the anxiety.
- 34:03Speaker 1: It's the depression, which very common. But again, what is
- 34:07Speaker 1: the most common eating disorder versus what are people going
- 34:10Speaker 1: to get help for?
- 34:11Speaker 4: Yeah, no, I remember seeing a start. I can't remember
- 34:15Speaker 4: what it is. You might know it, but I think
- 34:17Speaker 4: it was up in the high eighties eighty something percent
- 34:20Speaker 4: of women or maybe men too, that haven't eaten, sort
- 34:24Speaker 4: of like anorexia is from being sexually assault when they're younger,
- 34:29Speaker 4: like most of it stems from a sexual assault when
- 34:32Speaker 4: they were a little girl.
- 34:33Speaker 1: Yeah, there definitely are some links between sexual assaults or
- 34:38Speaker 1: abuse as a young person and then the later development,
- 34:42Speaker 1: particularly of anorexiinivosa even binge eating disorder as well, But
- 34:47Speaker 1: again case by case approach, But it could be people
- 34:50Speaker 1: just wanting to relinquish control over some part of their life.
- 34:54Speaker 1: I worked with a lady who had severe anorexia, and
- 34:58Speaker 1: she had significant trauma, and in that trauma, she was told,
- 35:02Speaker 1: if you ever put on weight, you know we're going
- 35:04Speaker 1: to come find you. And she had to stay thin
- 35:07Speaker 1: because she thought she wouldn't be seen. So it's very
- 35:10Speaker 1: powerful how you can be brainwashed as a young person.
- 35:14Speaker 4: Yeah, I had a girlfriend that had it. She was
- 35:16Speaker 4: in and out of hospital and now she's out the
- 35:18Speaker 4: other side. She said it was just she felt like
- 35:21Speaker 4: she was losing control of everything in her life. She
- 35:23Speaker 4: was sexually decided when she was younger, and she felt
- 35:24Speaker 4: like she lost her power then and then through taking
- 35:28Speaker 4: control of her food and getting as skinny as possible,
- 35:31Speaker 4: the only things she could control. She couldn't control what
- 35:33Speaker 4: that person did to her. She couldn't control the anxious
- 35:35Speaker 4: thoughts she had, the shame she was carrying. But food,
- 35:38Speaker 4: you bet you, I can control that, and that makes
- 35:40Speaker 4: me feel like I'm in my power and no one
- 35:42Speaker 4: can take that from me because no one can force
- 35:43Speaker 4: me to eat. So that's what it was addictive for
- 35:46Speaker 4: her to stay skinny and have that power. I was like,
- 35:48Speaker 4: that makes so much sense. I can totally see. Yeah,
- 35:52Speaker 4: for sure.
- 35:54Speaker 1: It's also reinforced in today's society. Look, yeah, I don't know.
- 36:01Speaker 1: Someone could lose weight because of trauma, stressed, they're unwell.
- 36:06Speaker 1: So I think as a society we need to be
- 36:09Speaker 1: aware of commenting on and vice.
- 36:11Speaker 4: First, Oh, like I get it all the time, like
- 36:13Speaker 4: other too musty, I'm too skinny, I'm too fat, I'm
- 36:15Speaker 4: too this. And I was like you can't be saying
- 36:17Speaker 4: that to people. I get ask when I'm pregnant.
- 36:18Speaker 3: I got asked like last week, Oh, that's right, are pregnant,
- 36:22Speaker 3: And I was like, no, I'm actually a woman, and
- 36:24Speaker 3: I'm right before my period and this is how my
- 36:25Speaker 3: body changes.
- 36:28Speaker 4: I kind of saying that's normal and all of us
- 36:30Speaker 4: have a flat stomach twenty four hours a day, three
- 36:32Speaker 4: and sixty five days of the year. Yeah, it's sad
- 36:35Speaker 4: the comments get thrown around, and it could be that
- 36:37Speaker 4: one comment. So people when they say, what was this
- 36:39Speaker 4: saying sticks and stones may break my bones, but words
- 36:42Speaker 4: will never hurt me, kay, But words actually gosh so
- 36:45Speaker 4: much so damaging. Your comment could be the one comment
- 36:49Speaker 4: that tips someone over the edge or puts them on
- 36:51Speaker 4: a path. Now, for anyone who's listening who has never
- 36:54Speaker 4: gone to psychologists, I've never seen anyone for help, Like
- 36:57Speaker 4: it is scary. Yeah, it is foreign to one put
- 36:59Speaker 4: your hand up and say hey, I need help, to
- 37:02Speaker 4: actually acknowledge that, but to act on actually booking session
- 37:06Speaker 4: and then thirdly actually going and turning up. What advice
- 37:09Speaker 4: do you have for people that are just so shit scared? Like,
- 37:12Speaker 4: you're not scary, You're very friendly, but you know, it.
- 37:14Speaker 1: Is a scary, scary. When I was going through my
- 37:18Speaker 1: own eating disort of growing up, I didn't seek help
- 37:21Speaker 1: for ages because no one spoke about it. I had
- 37:25Speaker 1: this idea that I needed to sort it out. And
- 37:27Speaker 1: I think as well as women, we just think we
- 37:29Speaker 1: should be able to sort it out, we should be
- 37:31Speaker 1: on top of it. But the good thing is step
- 37:35Speaker 1: one is identifying that something's not right. And you know
- 37:38Speaker 1: what's the cost if you keep going down this path
- 37:40Speaker 1: and you don't get help Versus it's an initial scary
- 37:44Speaker 1: cost of seeing someone. I'd recommend that people research online,
- 37:48Speaker 1: find someone you connect with important. Yeah, you can do
- 37:52Speaker 1: that nowadays. You know, back in the day a doctor
- 37:54Speaker 1: just referred to to anyone. But you can actually go online,
- 37:57Speaker 1: find someone with you know what you're looking for. Do
- 38:00Speaker 1: they deal with anxiety, do they deal with depression? And
- 38:03Speaker 1: then see if they have availability and you can be
- 38:05Speaker 1: referred to them specifically. And the third thing is write
- 38:09Speaker 1: things down, so at least when you go in there,
- 38:11Speaker 1: if you do have a mental blank or you're anxious,
- 38:13Speaker 1: you can say, you know what, I wrote some notes,
- 38:15Speaker 1: I just want to go over it.
- 38:16Speaker 4: Such good advice. That's great, such good advice. Thank you
- 38:21Speaker 4: so much for joining us. That was so informative. Like,
- 38:23Speaker 4: I've learned so much. There's some big words in that
- 38:25Speaker 4: I can't actually say say, but I've learned so much.
- 38:29Speaker 4: I feel like I want to go back and listen
- 38:30Speaker 4: to this and actually write some notes down myself, because
- 38:32Speaker 4: it's so important that we open up these conversations and
- 38:36Speaker 4: normalize talking about this and being educated so that if
- 38:38Speaker 4: we meet someone or our kids develop something, we know
- 38:41Speaker 4: what to do.
- 38:42Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure, Just you know, know that you're trying
- 38:45Speaker 1: your best and mental health it's not easy. It takes work,
- 38:48Speaker 1: it takes dedication. But even if people are listening to this,
- 38:52Speaker 1: well done on investing this time to learn, yes and grow.
- 38:57Speaker 4: And if anyone wants to book a session with you,
- 38:59Speaker 4: or do you have other psychologists that work with you
- 39:01Speaker 4: as well, where can they find you.
- 39:02Speaker 1: We've got a fantastic team. They can just click the
- 39:04Speaker 1: link my profile or visit Mindfoodpsychology dot com. And we
- 39:10Speaker 1: don't just do eating disorders. We see everyone. It's easy,
- 39:13Speaker 1: it's in the comfort of your own home. Medicare rebates
- 39:16Speaker 1: oh beautiful. Yeah, just get in touch even if you've
- 39:18Speaker 1: got a question will help.
- 39:20Speaker 4: And I don't know if you mind sharing, but what
- 39:22Speaker 4: is the cost of a session with you or with
- 39:24Speaker 4: one of your team members? Because that's a question we
- 39:26Speaker 4: get asked in the forum all the time, and I
- 39:27Speaker 4: answered it and I said, I feel like it can
- 39:30Speaker 4: be one hundred to seven hundred dollars, like depending on
- 39:32Speaker 4: who the person is, the coach, the qualifications, how in
- 39:35Speaker 4: demand they are.
- 39:37Speaker 1: Yeah, good question, and it does depend. A general psychologist
- 39:40Speaker 1: usually will start at around two hundred and fifty dollars.
- 39:43Speaker 1: Clinical psychologist might be a little bit more than that,
- 39:47Speaker 1: and then the rebates, so you do get about one
- 39:49Speaker 1: hundred and forty one, but that's great medicare with a
- 39:52Speaker 1: clinical and then I think around ninety four with a
- 39:55Speaker 1: general site as well. You've got a mental health care plan, And.
- 39:59Speaker 4: Do you recommend people seeing you for a minimum of
- 40:02Speaker 4: three months or is it just like go with the flow.
- 40:05Speaker 1: I really believe the reason people may not see a
- 40:09Speaker 1: difference or get better with psychologists is because they don't
- 40:11Speaker 1: go consistently enough. It's like going to the gym. But
- 40:14Speaker 1: depending on what the issue is, it does need to
- 40:17Speaker 1: be consistent. But case by case approach, my insta and
- 40:23Speaker 1: TikTok is mind food Steph.
- 40:26Speaker 4: So cool because that's where I consume your content on TikTok. Yeah. Yeah,
- 40:29Speaker 4: you've got a book and a podcast as well.
- 40:31Speaker 1: Yeah, come on over check it out. It's called the
- 40:33Speaker 1: What's Eating You? Podcast and the book is Food Jail,
- 40:37Speaker 1: Breaking the Bars of binge Eating.
- 40:39Speaker 4: Oh, thank you so much for joining us. It's not
- 40:41Speaker 4: the end of you though. We're having you back on Wednesday,
- 40:43Speaker 4: which is really exciting.
- 40:45Speaker 1: Cool