Kristy Carlisle

I’m currently working with a high functioning adolescent with Asperger’s Syndrome. She is often hurt or disappointed when people do not react the way she would want them to in social situations. Most often, these situations are severe, so reworking her expectations and perceptions of others has been useful. But today she made a comment that people who are not on the spectrum often make too. I wonder why we can’t make more of a change in our society about common friendliness.

While working a maternity leave position as a Middle School Counselor, I was assigned a case load that included a 6th grade girl who had recently been reunited with her family after The Division of Youth and Family Services had removed her and her sisters from their parents’ home for confirmed child abuse. I had arrived in the middle of a volatile situation, so after collecting as much information as I could from administrators and the Student Assistance Counselor, I kept a close eye on the student and met with her often. I believed that providing support to this young girl during a tumultuous time of transition was, for sure, the right thing for me to do. Was I surprised when her mother did not agree with me? Not so much.

In my last blog, I shared a little about the plight of shelter dogs -- one shelter dog in particular. Nia has been living in a narrow wire kennel run for at least four months. Despite living in confined quarters with limited human contact and almost non-existent mental or emotional stimulation, Nia stays in seemingly satisfactory spirits.

Food addiction is a controversial issue because not everyone believes it exists. The DSM-IV describes eating disorders as severe disturbances in eating behavior and includes Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa as such disorders. Interestingly, Appendix B of the manual contains criteria and axes for further study of a condition called Binge-Eating Disorder (BED), characterized by recurrent excessive eating without control despite resulting physical and emotional discomfort. While suggesting that overeating may be an addictive behavior, not all excessive food consumption fits the classification. Furthermore, obesity and food addiction should not be considered one in the same. However, BED provides a particularly interesting manifestation of symptoms that merits further investigation into the addictive qualities of sugary and fatty foods.

While studying and practicing in the mental health profession, I’ve heard many people say that those who enter the profession often have a particular reason: their own problems. If it’s not their own problems, they want to figure out why other people in their lives have acted the ways they do. Well, for goodness sake, don’t we all!?