The Psychology of Dieting and Overeating Disorders with Bridin McKenna, UKCP Reg. Clinical Psychotherapist

This course is taught largely from the front & draws from the latest thinking in eating disordered clinical research, evidence-based treatments, coaching, health & counselling psychology.

Very many people engage in dieting. Health professionals could be forgiven for assuming that reducing diets are for overweight people. However, this is far from the case.

Up to one third of men and women in the western world is said to be overweight. Yet twice as many believe that they weigh more than they should. Thinking that one is overweight is more common in normal weight women than in men. Moreover, not only do these normal weight people believe they weigh too much, many also have lives that are in some way restricted by worry about weight.

When we diet you exchange automatic internal regulators of appetite for conscious mental ones. You teach yourself to stop responding to hunger cues, both the lets eat and the lets stop messages. So when people break their diets either temporarily or for good they run the risk of rebound binge eating.

Also, as we diet our body shuts down, adjusts to surviving on less energy and our metabolic rate, the rate at which we use up energy – goes down. In addition there is growing evidence that repeated cycles of dieting can make matters even worse, in that people may have to eat less and for longer to lose the same amount of weight the effects of dieting are far reaching.

Psychologically dieters became more anxious and prone to feeling depressed, they have difficulty concentrating and they began to withdraw from other people and became less sociable.

Formal studies of dieting have shown that dieting provokes cravings, impulsive eating (you must eat something just because it is there), low mood, and the inability to stop eating when satiated. These symptoms persist well after someone has stopped dieting and even if they are eating normally. But not all people who diet become compulsive over-eaters so obviously something else must be true for those who develop a very unhappy relationship with food.

Giving up dieting requires complex interventions, based on education, re-evaluating the values and attitudes which create body insecurity in women, reality testing, re-framing food, and helping each individual find a formula for eating which is compatible with their lifestyle and physiology.

This 1-day workshop aims to provide a broad understanding of the psychological, psychological and behavioral impact of dieting and the link to overeating disorders.

Suitability: The course is suitable for counsellors, psychologists, psychotherapists, doctors, nutritionists, nurses, social workers, personal fitness trainers & other health professionals working with mental health, nutrition or disordered eating. We also welcome delegates who wish to improve their own relationship with food.

We offer this course as corporate training and are happy to work with organisations wish to develop these skills. We welcome enquiries from companies seeking in house training and offer discount for groups.

This course will cover:

• The psychology of dieting
• The physical risks of dieting and the link to overeating disorders
• The emotional effects of dieting
• Dysregulation and Disinhibition
• Health risks of dieting
• The set point theory
• The relationship between nutrition, behaviour, appetite and mood
• Typical thinking and behaviour among dieters
• Typical self-limiting beliefs among dieters
• To diet or not to diet – a critical analysis
• Binge and compulsive eating disorders
• The clients food world
• Body image in the overweight
• Enhancing motivation, ready willing and able
• Education: What the client needs to know, and when
• Coaching for change
• Evidence based and other models of treatment suitable for the treatment of eating disturbance
• How and when to use appropriate resources such as alternative professional expertise and how to integrate your work with that of the other professionals involved in the recovery process

Trainer: Bridin McKenna UKCP accredited Clinical Psychotherapist and Eating Disorder Clinician

Venue: Life Therapies Clinic & Training, Belfast

Date: Friday 26th April 2019

Investment: £85 – or book together with Intro to Working with Eating Disorders & Body Esteem workshop for £150 for both (£170 if booked separately.)

Book Now: use booking form on website www.life-therapies.com

Recognition: This course is certified and approved by the National Centre for Eating Disorders and Life Therapies Professional Training with CPD award of 8 hours.

Includes: Handouts and training resources provided. All delegates will receive a certificate of attendance.

About the host

Bridin is the founder and lead therapist of Life Therapies Clinic and Professional training.

After qualifying as a psychotherapist, Bridin has further trained at The National Centre for Eating Disorders and Obesity in London and is an affiliate member of their professional network, holding specialist qualifications for working with anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, obesity, eating disorders and associated mental health conditions.

She is a BPS approved affiliate trainer for the National Centre for Eating Disorders and is qualified to deliver their Master Practitioner Programme in Eating Disorders and Obesity.

Please note that organisers may have only provided an approximate location (Life Therapies Clinic Belfast BT9 6RT) so please contact them to confirm before making your booking or travelling to the venue.