Every year our therapists meet people who are concerned about their eating habits and changes in weight. Physical health is a huge part of our overall well-being, so we understand fully why our clients spend so much time worrying about this. Over the holiday season this is especially common – the stress, schedule changes, traveling, and abundance of unhealthy foods create the perfect storm for bad moods and pigging out. It’s not uncommon to put on at least 5 pounds late in the year, especially because eating is socially encouraged over the holidays. It’s a completely acceptable part of celebrating that most families embrace. The problem is that it can leave you feeling sad, out of control, and regretful. Not only do you eat more, but you stay inside more often, exercising and seeing friends less often because it’s so cold.

In the past I have worked with clients on managing their stress over the holidays to avoid terrible moods and irritability, family conflict, and the overeating that inevitably leads to sadness, low self-esteem and the never ending “lose weight” new year’s resolution. I do this by working with clients to increase the time they take for themselves to exercise, replacing unhealthy habits (like overeating) with healthy ones, planning, reducing family stress, or working on creating realistic expectations.

Another part of feeling better might be working on accepting a little weight gain this time of year instead of fighting it, to relieve some of the guilt and pressure you feel. We don’t encourage starting a new diet or exercise plan over the holidays – don’t set yourself up for failure!

About Psychotherapy Associates of Chicago
We’ve been helping clients feel better for over 10 years. Our therapists have a lot of experience helping clients manage overeating and all the feelings that come along with it. We’re conveniently located near public transportation and metered street parking, serving North Center, Lincoln Square and Ravenswood neighborhoods. If you think you could benefit from talking with us, don’t hesitate to call 773-414-4577 to set up an appointment!

Anxiety and stress are topics we talk about every day in therapy.  Anxiety can come in many forms – panic attacks, constant worry, feeling scared to be around big groups of people, or other things.  These feelings can be so troubling or difficult to manage that all we want to do is get rid of them as quickly as possible.  People seem to think that the best way to handle anxiety or stress is by pushing it away.  Out of sight, out of mind, right?  Unfortunately, we can’t trick ourselves that easily and repression can take its toll in other ways.

Rather than avoiding problems, therapy helps people to identify their problem areas and find the small ways to reduce daily stress.  Here’s an article by Sara Boboltz who writes about some helpful ways to reduce stress in our daily life.

If you live in the Chicago are and want help reducing your stress levels, don’t hesitate to call us at 773-414-4577 or visit psychotherapychicago.com to schedule an appointment to talk with someone.

We work with many people in therapy who talk about Facebook and how it has been impacting their feelings about themselves and others. As engaging as it can be, Facebook – and other social media – can strongly impact our mood and how we see ourselves. Although Facebook can help us feel a sense of connection with others, it can also have the opposite result. While we may enjoy hearing about our friends’ accomplishments and vacations, it can often lead to a subtle sense of envy, feeling “left out,” and a general dissatisfaction with our lives.

Consistent with what we see with our own therapy clients here in Chicago, the article “The Impact of Facebook from the New Yorker,” Maria Konnikova points out numerous studies on how the use of social media, particularly Facebook, ultimately impacts our emotional well-being. You can read the article here.

Huffingtonpost.com offers a brief quiz that might help you determine your emotional intelligence level. Many people are extremely hard workers with high IQ levels, but one article we find pretty relevant acknowledges the importance of emotional intelligence (EQ). We agree that in many ways, emotional intelligence can be equated to “street smarts” as opposed to “book smarts” because it is paramount in helping us self-regulate, successfully interact socially, and connect with other people through empathy. This article offers 14 indicators that you are an emotionally intelligent person, and could also be used as a tool to work on some areas where you feel you need improvement. A couple of high EQ indicators are how well you get along with other people, to what degree you trust your gut instincts, and whether you know when to “say no.”