DR MARIANNE MILLER

CARING EATING DISORDER TREATMENT IN SAN DIEGO AND THROUGHOUT CALIFORNIA, TEXAS, AND WASHINGTON D.C. FOR ADULTS & TEENS

Meet San Diego Psychologist Dr. Leslie Anderson of UCSD's Eating Disorders Center

Meet San Diego Psychologist Dr. Leslie Anderson of UCSD's Eating Disorders Center

San Diego psychologist Leslie Anderson, PhD, is a brilliant woman who is the director of training and a clinical associate professor at University of California San Diego’s (UCSD) Eating Disorder Center. I’ve gotten to know her through the Tuesday seminars at the center, which provide cutting-edge training for eating disorder professionals in the San Diego eating disorder community. I have attended other trainings by Dr. Anderson on using Dialectical Behavior Therapy for eating disorder treatment, which I’ve found incredibly helpful in my own practice. Dr. Anderson really knows her stuff!!! I deeply respect the work she is doing, both in her research and in her clinical work. She is very much advancing the field of eating disorder treatment.

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Interview with San Diego Eating Disorder Dietitian Theresa Carmichael, RD

Interview with San Diego Eating Disorder Dietitian Theresa Carmichael, RD

Hi everyone! This week I’d like you to meet San Diego eating disorder dietitian Theresa Carmichael, RD. Theresa is a dietitian at Center For Discovery’s partial hospitalization program and intensive outpatient program in Del Mar. She also treats clients in her private practice in Mira Mesa in San Diego. She is a lovely person who really advocates the Health at Every Size (HAES®) and Intuitive Eating approaches, which I also uphold. She also does amazing work with her clients!

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Interview with San Diego Eating Disorder Dietitian, Dr. Megan Holt Hellner, RD

Interview with San Diego Eating Disorder Dietitian, Dr. Megan Holt Hellner, RD

Hi everyone! I’m starting a blog series interviewing various eating disorder professionals in the San Diego area. I’m beginning with one of my favorite eating disorder dietitians to work with in San Diego—Dr. Megan Holt Hellner, RD. She and I have collaborated on many client cases, and she is conscientious, caring, compassionate, and thorough. One thing I love about Megan is that she has two advanced degrees in public health, and so she is especially good at working with people with challenging physical aliments. She also specializes in working with athletes.

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Tapping into Mindfulness:  Part 5 of Finding the Spiritual in Eating Disorder Treatment—A 5-Part Series

Tapping into Mindfulness: Part 5 of Finding the Spiritual in Eating Disorder Treatment—A 5-Part Series

Has your soul ever ached? Is it difficult to reconcile living in such a beautiful place as San Diego and feeling such pain? Have you ever felt so far away from God that it hurt? Have you ever questioned your belief in God, or in any sort of higher power? Have you ever wondered how God can exist if there is such pain in the world? Have you felt angry with God? Have you ever felt hurt, shamed, disappointed, or discriminated by spiritual leaders? Many of these emotions and experiences can lead to spiritual pain. Spiritual pain is a soul-deep ache that is beyond depression or grief. Spiritual pain is an existential crisis in which the deepest parts of ourselves are crying out, “Is there a God or higher power out there?” “If so, how could this God or higher power let such pain and suffering happen?”

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Diving Deeper into Spiritual Healing:  Part 4 of Finding the Spiritual in Eating Disorder Treatment—A 5-Part Series

Diving Deeper into Spiritual Healing: Part 4 of Finding the Spiritual in Eating Disorder Treatment—A 5-Part Series

Sometimes when you feel overwhelmed by your spiritual pain, you can think that there is no hope. It is at these times when you need to dive deep into your pain to let yourself experience spiritual healing. If you struggle with disordered eating, you know how painful it can be . . . emotionally, psychologically, physically, and spiritually. Becoming acutely aware of all aspects of your pain as you go about your daily life in San Diego lets you open yourself to healing. It’s like when you have an infection in your arm—you need to open it up and clean out all of the gunk and then put the medicine on it so it can heal. Spirituality can be your medicine—the balm for your soul.

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Starting Your Journey to Spiritual Healing: Part 3 of Finding the Spiritual in Eating Disorder Treatment—A 5-Part Series

Starting Your Journey to Spiritual Healing: Part 3 of Finding the Spiritual in Eating Disorder Treatment—A 5-Part Series

You’ve recognized that you’ve got some spiritual pain. Congratulate yourself for the awareness—it’s a hard thing to acknowledge. You may be thinking, is spiritual healing even possible. Do I even want it? I feel so far away from God or my higher power in my life in San Diego that it just seems like too big of a gulf to bridge. I understand that it can feel overwhelming. I want to encourage you that all you have to do is take the first, small step. Sometimes you have to walk before you run, and sometimes you have to tiptoe before you walk. Let’ go ahead and stick that foot out there and start the journey.

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Dealing with Spiritual Pain: Part 2 of Finding the Spiritual in Eating Disorder Treatment—A 5-Part Series

Dealing with Spiritual Pain: Part 2 of Finding the Spiritual in Eating Disorder Treatment—A 5-Part Series

Has your soul ever ached? Is it difficult to reconcile living in such a beautiful place as San Diego and feeling such pain? Have you ever felt so far away from God that it hurt? Have you ever questioned your belief in God, or in any sort of higher power? Have you ever wondered how God can exist if there is such pain in the world? Have you felt angry with God? Have you ever felt hurt, shamed, disappointed, or discriminated by spiritual leaders? Many of these emotions and experiences can lead to spiritual pain. Spiritual pain is a soul-deep ache that is beyond depression or grief. Spiritual pain is an existential crisis in which the deepest parts of ourselves are crying out, “Is there a God or higher power out there?” “If so, how could this God or higher power let such pain and suffering happen?”

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Filling Your Spiritual Cup: Part 1 in a 5-Part Series on Finding the Spiritual in Eating Disorder Treatment

Filling Your Spiritual Cup: Part 1 in a 5-Part Series on Finding the Spiritual in Eating Disorder Treatment

What brings you peace in your life in San Diego? When do you feel most connected to the world around you—to other people, to animals, to nature? When do you feel a sense of well-being? These are some of the questions I might ask my clients when getting them to focus on what feeds them spiritually in San Diego. In eating disorder recovery, so much of the focus can be on food and our bodies, but what often is a missing piece in treatment is nourishing our souls.

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Three Steps to Start You on the Path to Body Acceptance

Three Steps to Start You on the Path to Body Acceptance

Body image. Do I hear a collective sigh? Groan of frustration? Chorus of “I don’t wanna think about it?” And yet, we live in San Diego, where it feels like it is bikini season 90% of the year. And where wearing tiny shorts and a bikini top inside the store or a restaurant isn’t considered completely inappropriate. You don’t need to have an eating disorder or low self-esteem in San Diego to have issues with accepting your beautiful body as it is!

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