Events – Dr. Judith Brisman

The treatment of eating disorders has evolved dramatically over the years. Traditional therapeutic boundaries continually need to change to reach the patient deeply embedded in the world of food and weight. How, when and why can the therapeutic terrain be expanded without eroding the safety of the treatment? Dr. Brisman will discuss a model in which behavioral change is interwoven into interpersonal exploration, with a sensitivity to who – both patient and therapist – is in the room at any given time. A clinical case will be presented, allowing for the question that needs to endlessly be considered: What works – and why?

Judith Brisman, Ph.D., CEDS was the Founding Director of the Eating Disorder Resource Center for over 35 years. She is co-author of Surviving an Eating Disorder: Strategies for Family and Friends (Now in its fourth edition and available at Harper Collins or on Amazon). She is an associate editor of Contemporary Psychoanalysis and is on the editorial board of the journal Eating Disorders. She is a member of the teaching faculty at the William Alanson White Institute, and she maintains a private practice in New York City. Dr. Brisman is known internationally as among the first in her field to develop a treatment program for bulimic patients. She has published and lectured extensively regarding the interpersonal treatment of eating disorders.

Food, desire, intuition, and… sex.

We often get stuck in the food and body image loop when discussing eating disorders. But let’s be real, it’s so much more than that! Our relationship with food and our bodies spills over into every aspect of our lives, especially anything that connects with our desires, including our sexual desires and intimacy.

Have you ever wondered how we got here? Why are we so disconnected or even afraid of our desires? The roots often trace back to our childhoods and the environment we grow up in. Think about it: as kids, many of us focus on meeting the needs of our caregivers. As we grow older, societal pressures, like the ideal body image portrayed on social media, start shaping our desires and identities.

Remember those awkward moments when someone asks, “What do you want?” and you’re like, “Uhh, I don’t know, what do YOU want?” We’ve all been there! But why is it so hard to tune into our own desires and needs?

It’s fascinating to explore how the fear of wanting too much can become a significant barrier to recovery. Imagine starting with the fear of craving too much chocolate and ending up grappling with the terror of wanting too much love or fearing you’ll become a burden.

In our teens and twenties, it’s a time to explore, try on different identities, and figure out who we truly are. But for some, the fear of exploring and knowing what they want leads them to latch onto the identity of an eating disorder. Nowadays, with the rise of social media, the pressure to conform and the fear of not fitting in has escalated dramatically.

This week, I am welcoming back Dr. Judith Brisman. She joined me back in episode 73 for a discussion on food and desire. Now she’s back to talk about how eating disorders have an impact on our sexual desires.

Dr. Judith Brisman was the Founding Director of the Eating Disorder Resource Center for over 35 years. She is co-author of Surviving an Eating Disorder: Strategies for Family and Friends (Now in its fourth edition and available at Harper Collins or on Amazon!). She is an associate editor of Contemporary Psychoanalysis and is on the editorial board of the journal Eating Disorders. She is a member of the teaching faculty at the William Alanson White Institute and she maintains a private practice in New York City. Dr. Brisman is known internationally as among the first in her field to develop a treatment program for bulimic patients. She has published and lectured extensively regarding the interpersonal treatment of eating disorders.

In this episode, we’re talking about:

The misconception of focusing solely on food and body image in eating disorders.
The relationship between desire, eating disorders, and societal expectations.
The influence of early experiences and relationships on understanding needs.
The societal shift towards screens affecting children’s development.
Challenges in understanding needs in one’s 20s in the digital age.
Listening to bodily cues and recognizing thoughts.
The role of parents, caregivers, and therapists in understanding needs without judgment.
The potential benefits of tools like microdosing with mushrooms. (Random, I know but fascinating.)
Nutritionists helping patients understand desires through food.
Open discussions about sex, pleasure, and desire.
Societal taboos impacting young people’s exploration of sexuality.
Therapists discussing sex without judgment.
The parallel between eating disorders and desires.
Society’s views on sex and sexual freedom.
Understanding wanting in relationships and therapy.
The push-pull dynamic of wanting in therapy.
Dangers of disassociating from wanting.
Focusing on true needs rather than pleasing others.
Interpersonal dynamics in relationships affecting sexuality.
Addressing transgenerational transmission of anxiety.
Curiosity about feelings and needs to break anxiety cycles.
A practical approach to identifying and asserting wants and needs.
Validating feelings and desires in various aspects of life.

When you feel like bingeing or restricting “just happens,” how do you begin to uncover how you got there… so you can take steps to make it stop?

Believe it or not, an eating disorder has a purpose.

That purpose might be to manage emotions that feel intolerable, whether that’s anger, sadness, or yes, even desire. But how do you begin to name WHAT you’re feeling, and resolve it? How would you even recognize desire as something that’s playing out in food for you? Dr. Judith Brisman and I got to talk about exactly that today.

This week on Wellbeing we are kicking off our 13-part series on Anorexia Nervosa. Anorexia has the highest fatality rate of any mental health condition and is characterised by a fear of being overweight. In our first instalment we are talking with internationally renowned eating disorder expert Dr. Judith Brisman. Dr Brisman is the co-author of Surviving an Eating Disorder which, when it was first released in 1988, was the first book to offer effective advice for families and friends of those with eating disorders. Dr Brisman is also a pioneer in the eating disorders field having founded The Eating Disorder Resource Center in 1981 which was the first centre of its kind.

In this episode, Dr Brisman talks about what anorexia is, how and why it occurs, its effect on the body and the internal organs, anorexia in younger people, anorexia in those who are part of the LGBTQ community, the effects of social media on anorexia’s prevalence, stigma around those with anorexia, anorexia recovery in children, how anorexia impacts the brain, and her role as a psychoanalyst in recovery.

“We are also seeing that we totally missed the world of gender fluidity; of course this is all a new subject and we are learning so much about this. Think about it, if you are in a male body and you believe you’re a woman and you’re 13 years old or 15 years old and you want to look like you really believe you are, the first thing you are going to do it make your body smaller, and so we are also seeing anorexia in the transgender community” – Dr. Judith Brisman on this episode of Wellbeing

Dr. Judith Brisman will be speaking at the following online seminar hosted by the Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology as part of the Professional Vulnerability: Dread, Hope and Resilience Seminar Series.

Using Interpersonal theory and a discussion of dissociation as a backdrop for exploration, this seminar will discuss how the treatment of eating disorders allows for an expanded version of what we may consider a more traditional analysis.

Work with eating disorders involves an ongoing intermix of behavioral intervention and psychodynamic exploration. When are direct interventions with food and weight needed? When is this kind of behavioral focus a repetition of problematic relational patterns– both for the patient and for the therapist? And how can this work be considered psychoanalysis?

Ongoing there is a need to question what part of the patient– and what part of the analyst – is present at any given time. The goal overall is to allow for an exchange of hungers. Here, an awareness of the therapist’s hunger for change and hope, and alternately the shutdown of any needs, may be as critical as knowing the experience of hunger the patient has brought into the room.

Learning Objectives:

Learn how to integrate behavioral interventions within a psychoanalytic framework.
With Interpersonal thinking as a backdrop, learn how the use of the therapist’s self-experience can facilitate therapeutic work.
Learn how to question the difference between developmental capacity and relational dynamics in the therapeutic exchange.

Part of the Professional Vulnerability: Dread, Hope and Resilience Seminar Series.

Dr. Judith Brisman was the Founding Director of the Eating Disorder Resource Center for over 35 years. She is coauthor of Surviving an Eating Disorder: Strategies for Family and Friends (Harper Collins,2021, 4th Edition), is on the editorial boards of the journals Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Eating Disorders. She is a member of the teaching faculty at the William Alanson White Institute and she maintains a private practice in New York City.

Dr. Brisman is known internationally as among the first in her field to develop a treatment program for bulimic patients. She has published and lectured extensively regarding the interpersonal treatment of eating disorders.

We discuss topics including:

Patterns of how people interact
Mistakes that are often made when working with families in the first edition of her book
The relationship model
The parents job is making it real
Parents watching “body talk”

From the comfort of your home, and anonymously, grab a coffee and join us on Zoom for EXPERTS in the field of EATING DISORDERS have come together weekly to offer free support to all of our clients who are struggling with this forced change in their lives and in their treatment. Morningside Chats in the Living Room is a safe space for anyone to join, listen, comment, be present and as anonymous, as you choose. Each week a different expert in the eating disorder field will engage in casual dialogue and offer tips and support. Professionals are sharing their unique perspectives on life, joy, daily struggles, and the rapidly changing environment we all find ourselves in today. Morningside Chats offers a genuine source of connection and support for both the speakers and participants during this time of isolation. It is a place to connect, share, process, and uncover the silver linings or just hang out.

Judith Brisman, PhD, CEDS, was the Founding Director of the Eating Disorder Resource Center for over 35 years. She is co-author of Surviving an Eating Disorder: Strategies for Family and Friends (currently in its 4th edition- look out for it next year!), is an associate editor of Contemporary Psychoanalysis and is on the editorial board of the journal Eating Disorders. She is a member of the teaching faculty of the William Alanson White Institute and she maintains a private practice in New York City. Dr. Brisman has published and lectured extensively regarding the interpersonal treatment of eating disorders.

“When someone is disordered in their eating often what you find is that they’ve been a kid who has learned to have radar for the feelings of other people. Whether it’s a family where the kid can’t express their emotions and parents’ emotions rule, that kid has learned to look to the outside to figure out who she should be. So of course, in our culture that means that they looked to the scale, they looked to Instagram, but when it comes to sexuality it’s the same thing. This isn’t a matter of they’re having their own feelings that they are conflicted about – they are looking to the outside world to see what they can paste on in terms of whom they are supposed to be. They don’t have a sense of their sexuality. They don’t have a sense of their hunger. And if you don’t have a sense of what you are hungry for with food, how can you possibly have a sense of what you are hungry for with sex.”

Episode Description: We begin by describing the tendency for eating-disordered individuals to block out their internal experiences. As a result, it is often those who are external but caring about the struggling person who develops strong feelings about their difficulties. We discuss three common clinical situations and unpack the observations of those who are interested in the patient and what may be going on in the inner life of the symptomatic individual. We consider perfectionism, good/bad thinking, individuation and sexuality, and the importance of the therapist-patient relationship as the vehicle to discover inner-derived identity and desire.

Family issues often become exacerbated in the treatment of eating disorders. Ruptures can arise from misattunement, ineffective communication and boundary violations. This workshop will teach participants how to anticipate, address and use ruptures in family healing. Using didactic, clinical and experiential material, Intergrative Interpersonal strategies will be demonstrated that allow for symptomatic reduction and relational growth. There will be a focus on symptom reduction, affect regulation, mindfulness and the use of self disclosure on the part of the therapist to resolve therapeutic rupture and to recognize and identify longstanding problematic relational patterns. Click here for full details.

Dr. Judith Brisman PhD C.E.D.S and Dr. Judith Rabinor PhD will teach this workshop focusing on working with families during the upcoming iaedp Symposium 2022. The iaedp™ Board of Directors decided that this year the program will be presented virtually only and not onsite.

When someone you love appears to be struggling with an eating disorder, it is hard to know what to say or do. Families and friends need information and guidelines if they are to be helpful. In their recently-published fourth edition of Surviving an Eating Disorder (Fourth Edition; Harper Perennial, 2021), Michele Siegel, Judith Brisman, and Margot Weinshel walk loved ones through everything they need to know to help their loved one with an eating disorder, taking into account the latest developments in knowledge about the condition as well as the culture at large. In my interview with Dr. Brisman, we discuss why eating disorders are so complex to understand and treat and key strategies for engaging the suffering person that are helpful and supportive. Judith Brisman, Ph.D. is a psychologist and psychoanalyst in private practice in Manhattan, New York. She is former director of the Eating Disorder Resource Center and serves as editor for the journals Contemporary Psychoanalysis as well as the journal Eating Disorders. She is also faculty at the William Alanson White Institute. She is internationally known as one of the first in her field to develop a treatment program for patients with bulimia, and she has published and lectured extensively regarding the interpersonal treatment of eating disorders. Eugenio Duarte, Ph.D. is a psychologist and psychoanalyst practicing in Miami. He treats individuals and couples, with specialties in gender and sexuality, eating and body image problems, and relationship issues. He is a graduate and faculty of William Alanson White Institute in Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Psychology in New York City and former chair of their LGBTQ Study Group; and faculty at Florida Psychoanalytic Institute in Miami. He is also a contributing author to the book Introduction to Contemporary Psychoanalysis: Defining Terms and Building Bridges (2018, Routledge) and has published on issues of gender, sexuality, and sexual abuse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/psychology