4 mins read

Holiday Eating When Your Child Has An Eating Disorder

Turkey. Pumpkin pie. Hannukah gelt. Eggnog. Christmas cookies. Sounds delicious, right? Essential elements of holiday joy? Except when your child has an eating disorder. When you have a child with anorexia, bulimia, overeating or orthorexia, even ordinary meals are torture sessions. Your child gets anxious if you watch what they eat (or don’t eat) too…

3 mins read

Eating Disorders – What To Look For and How To Help Your Child

Through my own struggle with an eating disorder for nearly a decade, and now my expertise in working with patients suffering from eating disorders, I can’t stress enough the important role families and caregivers play during the discovery, treatment and recovery of eating disorders. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.…

3 mins read

Overcoming Sleep Disorders For Kids On The Spectrum

The following is a guest postby the team in the Boone Fetter Clinic at Childrens Hospital Los AngelesDid you know research shows that about half of school-age children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have trouble sleeping, compared to about one-fourth of typically developing children? Parents of children on the autism spectrum often report sleep problems such as resistance to going to sleep or sleeping alone, waking up often or sleepwalking during …

7 mins read

When the Bough Breaks: Ending the Stigma, Shame and Silence of Postpartum Mood Disorders

Contrary to the popular belief that pregnancy is a biologically protective and emotionally joyful time, women are actually quite vulnerable to a spectrum of psychiatric disorders throughout the perinatal period – the time around pregnancy and postpartum. This range of disorders, more commonly referred to under the umbrella term of postpartum depression, is more accurately reflected by the terms postpartum or perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs). In fact, 1 in 7 women who become pregnant will experience a mental health disorder during the course of their pregnancy or in the postpartum period, making PMADs the most common complication of childbirth. Additionally, 50% of women diagnosed with PMADs postpartum had an onset of their symptoms during pregnancy.