It seems that since the Covid-19 pandemic began, people have been joking about binging on food and drinking copious amounts of alcohol. Not really that funny, I am afraid. As a registered psychotherapist, I don't find substance abuse or addition funny. I treat many people with binge eating and emotional eating. I do not treat alcohol or drug addiction in my practice, but since I work in mental health, it fascinates me. I think even if you have never struggled with an addiction or know someone who has, you can probably relate to an addict to some extent. Most of us tend to use some sort of behaviour to numb or distract ourselves from emotional pain. Maybe its just being a workoholic, or exercise, or shopping or something else that seems relatively benign. But avoiding processing pain will never make it go away, you have to face it. Recently, Sean McCann , founder of Great Big Sea, published a memoir about his experience of being sexually abused as a teen and his alcoholism th
Healthy food for thought, body and soul.