One of the most drastic impacts of COVID 19 on mental health has been the surge of eating disorders. For many people, eating disorders are hard to understand – eating just seems like such a basic and usually pleasurable human need. How does someone not see the impacts of disordered eating on their physical health? How does an eating disorder start? Do teenagers choose not to eat? How can we possibly help them? These are exactly the sorts of questions we unpack with psychologist expert Dr Anita Federici. As an expert on eating disorders she has the practical wisdom and understands the psychology behind disordered eating. She revelas the sometimes subtle ways it starts and shares how we as parents can help. What can we do? say? not say? Listen in! (And stay tuned next week when we release part 2 – a discussion on the clinical effects of eating disorders with Andrea Logan)

In this episode Anita mentions the book Sick Enough by Dr Jennifer Gaudiani which you can find here

For more information on eating disorders check out nedic.ca and nied.ca or the Canadian Mental Health Association information page here.

Lastly, here are links for more information about Dr Anita Federici and the Centre For Psychology and Emotion Regulation. Anita’s blog is great!