Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: W v UA f m tuscaloosa.
Happy Sunday, y'all. You are listening to fit to be tied with Sheena and Nika on 90.7, the capstone. And I'm just going to own it and say, I almost completely forgot what I was going to say as we were opening the show. I was like, what show is this? Is it Sunday? What time is it? But, Nika, you're looking at me like, I understand.
[00:00:28] Speaker B: I totally get it. We were just talking about how we are forgetting common words.
[00:00:31] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:00:32] Speaker B: We don't know if it's age or too many tabs open in our brain or just.
[00:00:39] Speaker A: I agree. And it's so weird. So one of my coworkers, our administrative assistant, she is really good about letting us know how many working days are left until spring break. And so while I do love that, there's also a lot that needs to happen before spring break can happen. So I'm like, oh, my.
That means know XYZ program is coming up. So it's. So, you know, Nika, I'm actually curious for you, as a faculty member, as an advisor, can you see it in your students right now just as far as them kind of getting that itch for, okay, spring break is around the corner, or are they stressed out about academics right now and they can't even think about spring break because it's a busy part of the semester for them? Yes, it is.
[00:01:26] Speaker B: I tell you, it's the quiet before the storm because right now they're getting into their second test of the semester. So midterm grades are due March 1, so they're still in that mindset of, do I need to drop this class? Am I going to make it in this class? Do I need to put it into.
[00:01:45] Speaker A: High gear for this class?
[00:01:47] Speaker B: But right around the band is advising, so we'll be talking about summer and fall classes. So that is about where they start getting the itch for spring break.
[00:01:59] Speaker A: Now, as a health educator and faculty member, are there any kind of, like, self care reminders that you give your students? Like, okay, y'all, are you getting enough sleep? Y'all actually eating? Are y'all drinking some water? Not just caffeine? I didn't know if you go into any of those spiels in your class.
[00:02:16] Speaker B: I do. So what's funny is my 09:00 a.m.. Class, I guess it's the first class of the day in that classroom because every time I come in, they're all.
[00:02:26] Speaker A: Sitting in the dark.
[00:02:27] Speaker B: No one has bothered to turn the lights on. And I'm like, is this indicative of how you are feeling about life right now? Just let it be dark. We just don't even care. Yeah.
But I remind them every day when we leave class, I tell them, have a great day, make good decisions.
So I do. I remind them that they've got to be sleeping, they've got to be feeding themselves well, getting some exercise, striking a balance.
[00:02:54] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:02:55] Speaker B: So I try to remind them kind of that mom talk.
[00:02:58] Speaker A: Absolutely. Well, when you said make good choices, I was just like, that is such a great mom.
Just like blanket statement. But I feel like as the weather has, which actually, the weather, I'm not even going to bank on it. Continuing to stay sunny because it's sunny for a couple of days. It's like sunny while we're recording. But then by the time a listener listens to it, we're in another arctic blast. Right.
[00:03:23] Speaker B: We can get all four in one day.
[00:03:25] Speaker A: We really do. But I think, again, we're getting closer to spring break. So I love the fact that it is in March. But it can be tough, though, if you are at an institution that's having an earlier spring break where it's great that it's early, but what if it's still really cold during spring break, right.
[00:03:43] Speaker B: And if it's early, you can't come back and check out because you still.
[00:03:46] Speaker C: Have a lot more to go.
[00:03:48] Speaker B: It's not like, oh, let's just cruise this car on into summer. No, we still have.
[00:03:55] Speaker A: We got a lot of work to do.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: Got a lot of work to do, ground to cover. So it's kind of hard to stay focused now.
[00:04:00] Speaker A: Are you doing anything in particular for spring break? I didn't know if you and the girls are doing anything or if you have your own projects you want to do. Just as far as either projects at the house or anything like that.
[00:04:15] Speaker B: Nothing planned at the moment, but I would love to, as we talked about a couple of weeks ago, declutter. Yeah, I think I see that coming. Maybe some. I think my grass is going to have to be mowed with the way the weeds are shooting up.
[00:04:32] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:04:32] Speaker B: So probably mowing some grass.
[00:04:34] Speaker A: What about you, Sheena? I would like to declutter. I even joked with my husband at one point in time that as a birthday present, Valentine present, just some happy present, I would be okay if he brought a portable dumpster to our house because I could probably fill it up with all the things because I think that in my mind, one of the excuses is, oh, but then I have to load all this stuff up and then take it somewhere. And I feel like I'm that living meme of the person who's like, oh, let me donate these clothes. But first, they're going to sit in the back of my trunk for six.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: Months before I actually go ride around everywhere with me. Yeah.
[00:05:08] Speaker A: So I just need a portable dumpster at this point in time.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: Well, maybe we can share one. Yeah, it can come to your house.
[00:05:17] Speaker A: For a few days, half of the.
[00:05:18] Speaker B: Week, and it can come to mine.
[00:05:20] Speaker A: Well, yeah, we can go have these with that. Okay, let's do it. With that said, before we go even more rogue, y'all, we are going to take a quick break. We have a fabulous show lined up for you. We're going to tease and not actually tell you what we're talking about, but grab something to drink, do what you got to do. You are listening to fit to be.
[00:05:56] Speaker B: Tied with Sheena and Minka on 90.7, the capstone.
[00:05:59] Speaker A: And if you are just now joining us, that's probably a good thing because in our previous segment, we were talking a little bit about how Nika and I, probably, mostly me, need a portable dumpster just to declutter and do all the things. But that's not what we're talking about today. We're talking about mental health. We're talking about eating disorders.
[00:06:18] Speaker B: All the things I'm so.
[00:06:20] Speaker A: And, you know, anytime we're talking about some of these hard hitting topics, we always want to make sure that we have an expert guest. So we have today Christy Gibson, therapist over Gibson therapy services and former guest from 2000. I can't believe it's been that long. But Christy, welcome.
[00:06:36] Speaker C: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
[00:06:38] Speaker A: Absolutely. Now, for our listeners who are probably new to the show and maybe didn't hear you back in 2000, tell them a little bit about your profession, academic background. We just want to know about Christy.
[00:06:50] Speaker C: Okay. Well, I am a licensed marriage and family therapist. I received my first master's or I gave my first master's from the University of West Alabama in counseling psychology. I then went back to school and got my license or my degree in marriage and family therapy from here at UA. And I've been doing mental health for over 20 years in various ways. So that's about it. I own my own business.
[00:07:24] Speaker B: So tell us a little bit about the types of clients and issues that you specialize in.
[00:07:31] Speaker C: I specialize right now a lot in eating disorders. I'm also trained in the Gottman theory method of working with couples. So I'm level two certified in that, and then I'm also doing trauma work with people I've got trained in EMDR, so I've been doing EMDR work.
[00:07:53] Speaker B: Fascinating. I am fascinated by EmDR.
[00:07:56] Speaker C: Yeah, it's so cool to watch. I mean, not so much for my clients, but I'm like, this is wild.
[00:08:03] Speaker A: Look at that.
[00:08:04] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:08:06] Speaker A: And I've always been know, Christy, we've known each other for a while, and when I read through your bio, I see where you have that Gottman credentialing. I don't know if it's easy to explain what that looks like over the radio, but I guess I'm curious, what does that entail? Is that just a specific method of counseling for couples, if you can kind of give your elevator pitch as to what that is? Sure.
[00:08:37] Speaker C: It is a method. It was created by John and Julia Schwartz Gottman. They are actually still out in Seattle. They are famous for doing the love apartment, where they would actually bring couples in, and they would watch how the couples interact for what's called bids and, like, who accepts a bid and who doesn't.
John Gottman came up with the four horsemen of the apocalypse, which is criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stoneballing.
And he is known for, I think it's like, 97%, but I know 95% or above accuracy of who will get divorced after meeting them for five minutes.
[00:09:24] Speaker A: Wow. So I'm geeking out right now because obviously now I have so many questions, and I'm sure our listeners are probably going to start googling all the things, whether it's to potentially see you or this four horsemen of the apocalypse, because I think I saw that one time, and then I didn't necessarily know what that referred to in the context of working with couples. And so now I'm like, okay, amazing.
[00:09:50] Speaker B: Yeah, what a party trip.
[00:09:53] Speaker C: It's like I tell everybody I drink the Gottman Kool aid. So I love it because it's so scientifically based. I mean, there's so many studies that have gone through, so it's not just like, oh, because I said so.
This is scientifically based.
[00:10:10] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, you're in good company. We like some.
[00:10:14] Speaker B: We love it. So what got you interested in working with the eating disorders population?
[00:10:21] Speaker C: I just talked about that this morning. Well, because Sheena and I actually had a mutual friend and a coworker of mine, and she was doing a lot of eating disorders, and she was moving, and she came to me and said, christy, there's pretty much nobody doing eating disorder work. And I'm like, and I had never wanted to do eating disorder work. But I was like, okay, well, let me see what this is all about. And that was about seven years ago and haven't looked back, been studying, going to conferences.
[00:11:00] Speaker A: And I love just the way that you share how you got into that, because I think a lot of times people have this assumption if somebody's specializing, it's like, oh, I've had this special interest, or I had this close friend that had an eating disorder. Sometimes it can happen in that way. And for you, it was this function of this need of, okay, my coworker is leaving. She just told me that this is really an untapped area in our community. Like, somebody needs to specialize in it, so I'm going to take advantage of that so that I can serve that population. And so as a therapist who was previously not necessarily working in this area and getting your feet wet and then going full force with it, what have been some aha. Moments that even for you as a mental health professional, you're like, oh, I didn't even realize XYZ, about working in the eating disorders field. Has there been anything surprising to you?
[00:11:53] Speaker C: Well, being a baby eating disorder therapist, I mean, just the realization that an eating disorder has nothing to do with the food. I mean, it's just a symptom of underlying issues, but also just the prevalence of how diet culture can just morph so rapidly depending on the person into an eating disorder. And it's honestly really scary, especially being a mom of four kids, three of girls, being like, this is real. This is real, real life.
[00:12:32] Speaker A: Nika, I'm thinking, especially with your background, personal training in your career, have you had conversations with clients? And you're like, I think what you're doing in terms of your eating habits are disorder. I don't know if you've ever been in a position where you've had kind of had that coming to Jesus moment with them of like, hey, 100%.
[00:12:54] Speaker B: And most of the time, they don't even realize that what they're engaging in is disordered eating because it's the cultural and social norm of where they're at at the time. So I'll give an example. One time, I had a student that was training with me who would not eat all day because she was saving her calories to go out at night and consume alcoholic beverages. And then she knew that after she did that, that she would stop at a fast food restaurant on the way home. So she was fasting, not knowing that that's what she was doing, but she was coming to work out, and her body just couldn't give the effort. And so I had to teach her that. You're not getting nutrients throughout the day. Alcohol is an empty calorie. Yes, you're saving for calories, but a calorie is not just a calorie in this instance. And so I had to send her over to maybe you.
[00:13:52] Speaker A: I know it was somebody in your area, because I was like, listen, I.
[00:13:55] Speaker B: Can tell you a little bit about this, but I need the professional to really deep dive. But they kind of were like, well, that's just what we do.
[00:14:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:03] Speaker B: They didn't realize that that was harmful to the body.
[00:14:06] Speaker A: Yeah, you're right. Yeah. It is so much of a cultural thing. And when we think about the prevalence of eating disorders, and sometimes I'll be talking with groups of students and I'll say, which eating disorder do you think is the most prevalent? And a lot of times there's that assumption that it's anorexia, because they see that, and it's actually binge eating disorder. And I think that a lot of times it's not identified as such because if they're going to their doctor, doctor just sees elevated bmi. So they're like, let's put you on a weight loss diet. So they're not necessarily always asking those questions about that mental health piece. And also, too, I know when I was working with students one on one at the student health center, a lot of times students feel less comfortable letting their peers know about their eating disorder because the binge eating is not considered one of the glamorous eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia.
There's a higher sense of shame there or a different sense of shame there. So I just love the fact that we're able to talk about this today. Christy, now that you are heavy hitting within the eating disorders community here in Tuscaloosa, it's great that we have you with us today. I think we will take a quick break, but we're going to continue some conversations with you.
[00:15:38] Speaker B: You are listening to fit to be tied with Sheena and Nika on 90.7 the capstone. And we are joined by Christy Gibson, who is a licensed marriage and family therapist who also specializes in eating disorders.
[00:15:51] Speaker A: That's right. And we've, you know, we've had so much fun with you so far. Maybe it seems wrong to say the word fun. Maybe the geek in me, I'm learning.
[00:16:00] Speaker B: I am learning. And learning is fun.
[00:16:02] Speaker A: Yes.
And so we talked a little bit about eating disorders, but I know when we think about mental health in general.
One of the questions that we had for you today was, what do you feel like are some of the biggest perceived obstacles for individuals to get mental health therapy?
[00:16:19] Speaker C: A lot of times it's finances, because if you don't have insurance or you don't have an eap or something like that, that you can really go. There's not a lot of low cost options nowadays out there.
So that's a big one.
Another one is just, especially if it's in a rural area, which I know Tuscaloosa isn't, but the surrounding areas are. You usually have to travel to get to someone.
Honestly, that's one good thing about the pandemic. It did open up more for telehealth type situations. So it is a little bit easier for people in the rural areas to be able to get that help if they have a good Internet connection. But those are two of the big ones. I do believe some of the stigma has decreased. Some. But you still will have some issues depending on what your cultural community is or your age group.
Right.
[00:17:26] Speaker B: So what are some of the myths that you have seen be related to getting mental help like that are out there? And once they get to you, they realize, I was believing something that was wrong this whole time.
[00:17:39] Speaker C: A lot of people come in and the first thing they'll say is like, well, I don't think I'm crazy. And I'm like, mental health is not about being crazy.
They think they have to be. Too bad. You're getting ready to be hospitalized before you go and get it instead of, I'm dealing with some anxiety and it's really impacting my life. Maybe I'll go talk to somebody.
That's when all the therapists love to get their clients is when it's starting, so you can give them the tools and the resources to help them through that.
[00:18:16] Speaker B: How many people do you see that are kind of begrudgingly coming because they have this stigma associated that they're weak if they need help, I don't want to admit that I need help. That makes me weak. I can't handle this on my own or whatever.
[00:18:36] Speaker C: I know this will surprise you a lot of times. That's the men that they.
I don't need help. I can work it out. I've got this. I can figure it out. Which makes sense with men being very stereotypically the fixers, the very logical people.
Unfortunately, everybody needs help. Everybody needs community, everybody needs some social support. And men, again, stereotypically, do not have the same type of support that women do?
I don't know. I have my girls. We go out to eat for lunch. We can call and talk to each other, but most of the time, men don't have that same level of support.
[00:19:27] Speaker A: You mentioned this earlier with the pandemic kind of being the springboard for making it easier for people to access mental health because of telehealth and everything else, do you find that clients and even therapists themselves are still able to get that same quality of connection and rapport with a client through telehealth versus in person? Because I could see it both ways, where maybe you have a client who prefers in person only or maybe somebody feels like, oh, in person feels a little too daunting for me.
Telehealth is actually kind of my bread and butter. This is where I could excel. So talk a little bit about that.
[00:20:07] Speaker C: I've seen it both ways. I usually prefer before I do telehealth or I did. Now it's a little bit less so. But to be able to have someone at least come into my office once or twice so we can kind of build that in person rapport.
But I do see people just off, out of the gate own, well, my simple practice, which is my program that I use. But what I've noticed is that the younger, younger generations, I sound like I'm the nine year old grandmother, but they have a much easier time adapting to using telehealth, whereas I think more of my older generations, they want to come in, they want to be face to face.
[00:20:56] Speaker B: That makes sense.
So say I have someone or Sheena has someone that we want to start navigating the conversation of trying to get them to be connected, to help to get connected to you. What's the best way to ease into that without turning them off and shutting them down to the idea of it?
[00:21:17] Speaker C: Usually I just say, have a very simple conversation like you would with a friend. It's like, hey, I see you're having a hard time. You seem a little Stressed. Are you okay? What's going on?
That will kind of let you judge how open they are to get help at that point because if they completely, I'm fine.
They're not going anywhere. But if they're like, yeah, I'm really feeling stressed, or XYZ is going on, then you can say, well, hey, I'm not a therapist, but there's this great therapist over at the counseling center. There's this therapist over on 7th street, whatever.
[00:22:02] Speaker B: Do you see if there's a lot more pushback with those who have eating disorders than maybe others who are experiencing other mental disorders, like anxiety? Or do you see that? They want to know, I'm fine. I'm good. Do they push back a lot more with the eating disorders population?
[00:22:17] Speaker C: Most of the time, yes. Because an eating disorder, a lot of times can be masked as a diet.
[00:22:25] Speaker A: I'm being healthy.
[00:22:27] Speaker C: I'm just making sure I don't get obese because the obesity epidemic, which is a whole nother soapbox, I can't get them right.
[00:22:40] Speaker B: So they kind of can hide behind some excuses, is what you're saying.
[00:22:44] Speaker C: Very much so, yes.
[00:22:45] Speaker A: And I know, Christy, you spoke during body appreciation week for us on when a diet is no longer a diet.
I guess one of the types of eating disorders you mentioned was orthorexia. And even though it's not in the DSM five guidelines right now as an official eating disorder, it is that obsession with eating healthy. And I feel like there's so many folks that say, well, what's wrong with me being focused on eating healthy? And I think that just like any eating disorder, it's when that obsession with your food is disruptive to your quality of life.
[00:23:19] Speaker B: Right.
Tell the listeners, what is that called again?
[00:23:24] Speaker A: Orthorexia.
So, again, if you find yourself disengaging from activities of social, just your daily activities because of the obsession with the quality of your food or your calories, you don't want to socialize with friends because you feel like you're going to be put in a difficult situation food wise, or maybe you're missing out on social events or maybe even academic obligations because you feel the need that you have to work out.
Those are just some examples that are kind of coming off the top of my head. But, Christy, do you feel like you've seen a lot of prevalence with that, especially with the type of diet culture we see in social media right now?
[00:24:04] Speaker C: 100%. Because right now, diet culture is really trying to move away from diet because studies have come out that show that.
[00:24:13] Speaker B: Diets don't work, and it's a four letter word.
[00:24:16] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:24:16] Speaker B: Yeah, to some people. Right.
[00:24:19] Speaker C: But we're on our wellness journey. That's. Now we're on our wellness journey, and so we've got to make sure we're eating the best foods or we're going and exercising at least five times a week, which none of that's wrong. But if you are denying yourself, I can't have a piece of chocolate cake at my friend's birthday party because that's not good food, then that's a problem.
[00:24:49] Speaker B: It's not a balance.
[00:24:50] Speaker C: It's not a balance.
[00:24:50] Speaker A: Yeah. I think on that note, let's definitely take a break. I'm so happy we have you for some additional segments, but y'all grab a glass water, use the bathroom, do what you got to do. You are listening to fit to be tied with Sheena and Nika on 90.7, the Capstone, WVUA FM, Tuscaloosa.
[00:25:18] Speaker B: Hey, listeners, welcome back to fit to be tied with Sheena and Nika on 90.7 the capstone. And if you're just tuning in, we have Christy Gibson, who is a licensed marriage and family therapist who also specializes in disordered eating, joining us.
[00:25:33] Speaker A: And so, you know, right before the break, we were talking a little bit about orthorexia, the obsession with eating healthy. And so we're hoping the next time the DSM guidelines come out in any revisions, that orthorexia is in there. I know there's a committee right now that's trying to come up with all of the diagnostic and clinical criteria, but that doesn't mean that we can't continue to utilize that when we think about behaviors with our, you know, as we talk more about eating disorders.
I bet this question probably comes up a lot for you, Christy, where maybe even families or friends of a concerned person say, well, what caused this eating disorder? What is the cause?
How does this even happen? So what do you usually say to that?
[00:26:17] Speaker C: Well, it's a million dollar question, so it definitely depends on the person that's coming in a lot of times. Eating disorder. If you have a relative who has an eating disorder, that puts you at higher risk. You have a close relative that has a substance abuse disorder, that puts you at higher risk. Any kind of trauma. And if you're at a lower socioeconomic status, that also puts you at higher risk. But also if you have another diagnosed mental illness, which eating disorders actually fall on the anxiety spectrum.
And I don't know about you, but most people I know nowadays have anxiety after the pandemic. If you didn't have anxiety, now you do.
[00:27:06] Speaker B: So.
[00:27:09] Speaker C: Those things can lead to an eating disorder where just a regular diet or regular normal being, in air quotes, disordered eating turns into an eating disorder.
[00:27:24] Speaker B: So I talk about this a lot in my class, sheen, and I, and you, I'm sure, are a lot older than our college population. Like you said, we're not 90 year old grandmothers, but we've been around for a minute. And back in our day, it was magazines, like, you saw what was portrayed in the magazines, and today it's social media. So I try to help my students understand that it's always been around.
But I think, in my opinion, I want to ask your opinion. Do you think it is so much worse with all the social media platforms, the Instagram, the TikTok, is it just exacerbating the problem?
[00:28:05] Speaker C: Yes, 100%. There's even studies that are showing how with the start of social media, anxiety and depression has increased. And it's so scary because I have clients come in and they're on eating disorder TikTok, because their algorithms have gotten them to where people are teaching them. You can go on Instagram, I don't know, Facebook, I've been told that's the old.
[00:28:36] Speaker B: Like I have, you know, they don't have phones yet, but one day. And that's scary?
[00:28:42] Speaker A: Yes, because I feel know when you're mentioning the fact that for us in our generation, it was looking at magazines. And so while I might have been aspiring to look like Brooke Shields or whoever else on social media, it's your peers. It's the highlight reel of your peers.
From that standpoint, it should be attainable because it's a real life person that lives two doors down from you in Tutweiler or wherever you are.
[00:29:10] Speaker B: It's not Crawford.
[00:29:13] Speaker A: Well, she has a personal chef and a trainer, and that's why she looks that way.
But I remember this was several years ago on Instagram. I was playing around on the app and somehow had gotten over to the little help section of it. And there was a direct link to the National Eating Disorders association website within Instagram in the help center because they recognized that their platform was so triggering. And I was mind blown at that moment. Right?
[00:29:43] Speaker C: Oh, yeah.
[00:29:44] Speaker B: Right. So what are some of the misperceptions that you have seen working with clients and their families about eating disorders?
[00:29:53] Speaker C: The biggest one is that an eating disorder is about food, and the food is just the symptom or what they are trying. That vehicle, the vehicle, it's not the actual problem in itself. There's always an underlying problem. There's always underlying stressors or traumas or something going on under there. The other is, I've had clients parents come in and it's like, okay, so what do I need to cook them, and how often do they need to eat? And it's like, that's not going to work because it's like any kind of dealing with any kind of an addict. Until the addict wants to get better, they're not going to get better. So you can be there, you can be supportive, but just feeding them at certain times and doing certain things, there's no magic bullet. It has to come from the person themselves.
[00:30:45] Speaker B: One more question about that. Sure, everybody thinks that eating disorders is a female disorder. What would you say to that?
[00:30:54] Speaker C: I would say that it used to be considered that, but more and more men are also on Instagram and TikTok, and there is really starting to be a push for men to have certain physiques.
Your Chris Hemsworth.
Granted, not everybody's going to be a Chris Hemsworth, though, because what people forget, you are genetically set to be a certain size within a range, and you can't change that set any more than you can change how tall you are once you get to a certain height. That's it.
But, yes, I've seen more and more men, and especially those that have taken part in some kind of athletic.
Your wrestlers, your track and field, things like that.
[00:31:59] Speaker A: Yeah, I think even just thinking about the male population, I'm starting to even think about those that treat eating disorders. And the reason I bring this up, I remember several years ago, there was a therapist at the counseling center, and they said, hey, I have this female client eating disorder, but I really need, by her request, to find a male dietitian because she's seeing me as a male therapist, because the client is admitting that if she sees another female, whether it's the dietitian, therapist, doctor, whoever, she's going to basically analyze, scrutinize this individual because it's another female, thinking, okay, well, what is this dietitian eating? Do they have even the body type where I should even respect what they're saying? And honestly, I actually really appreciated that client's self awareness to say, hey, this is going to be an obstacle for me. I'm going to need XYZ kind of therapy treatment team to really get through this. And at first, I was like, she doesn't want to see me.
But then again, thinking back in hindsight, like what self awareness? Because I think a lot of people that sounds like she actually wanted to get better versus, well, I'll just play my game. I'll tell them how I'm processing this. So that's me kind of just going on a tangent with some of the conversation we're talking about today.
[00:33:26] Speaker C: But that is where you do see someone that wants to get better. Whereas a lot of times people come into my office because their parents are making them or things like that. And at that point, there's not even a reason for me to be working on the actual eating disorder. Itself because they're not ready for it. Yeah, they're just going to play the.
[00:33:49] Speaker B: Game, continue doing what they want to do.
[00:33:51] Speaker C: Right. So we work on other things, family dynamics, if there's any trauma, if there's anxiety or depression. Okay. How do we give you some coping skills, things of that nature, and then we can work into coming through the back door on that.
[00:34:06] Speaker A: And now, Christian, I know we're about to have to come on a break, but for someone who's wanting to get help for an eating disorder, what does that look like? Who's on the treatment team? And I know we'll probably continue this conversation in our next segment, but definitely a therapist. And then who are the others that you typically partner with?
[00:34:25] Speaker C: Ideally a dietitian, a physician, and a psychiatrist? Those would be my. If I was putting together my dream team, that would be my dream team of the professionals.
[00:34:37] Speaker A: Absolutely. Well, we want to continue these conversations, but we got to take a break. You are listening to.
[00:35:02] Speaker B: Fit to be tied with Sheena and Mika, with our guest, Christy Gibson, a licensed marriage and family therapist who also specializes in eating disorders.
[00:35:11] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:35:11] Speaker A: And if you've just joined us, we've had this lovely conversation about mental health, eating disorders. What got Christy into the field? And before the break, we were talking a little bit about who's usually on the treatment team. And so, Christy, would you say sometimes maybe one of the most difficult parts of your job is getting in touch with everybody on the treatment team? Because I'm sure, especially for our students who may be utilizing practitioners in other cities or states, I feel like sometimes it's hurting cats to try to get in touch with everyone, as everybody has different schedules.
[00:35:46] Speaker C: Yes, 100%. And just being able to get. Okay, here's the release. And now, when can we talk?
Okay, I'm busy that time. Let's do this. Yes. So it's really hard. That's one reason I love working with the college students here at UA, because a lot of times they can go to the dietitian here on campus, which makes it a lot easier for me to get in touch.
Right. But I've worked with psychiatrists and physicians and all out of state and talking to them.
But again, it's hard to get in touch with people if they're too far.
[00:36:25] Speaker A: Away or they're too busy now with wanting to get help for a loved one. I know we talked a little bit about this earlier in the show when we talked about getting somebody connected to mental health therapy in general. What would you say to either a parent or a friend of someone of concern, and they're wanting to get somebody in to actually get that diagnosis or just say, hey, you need some help.
[00:36:53] Speaker C: One thing I would recommend is there's a website called Psychology today, and you can actually go and type in your zip code or your city, and it pulls up all the listings of the therapist in that area. And look for someone that specializes in eating disorders. But if you can't find that, keep in mind, though, a lot of times, it's not about the eating disorder. It's the underlying issue. So even if you find somebody, if your child is really anxious, then someone that specializes in dealing with anxiety, something like that, you can find help. And then hopefully that therapist, if they feel like they are not qualified, will help you find someone who is. So we refer out a lot. If I don't have someone.
[00:37:44] Speaker A: I can't.
[00:37:44] Speaker C: Do what someone else can do. Yeah.
[00:37:46] Speaker A: That is so helpful. Thank you for that.
[00:37:47] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:37:48] Speaker A: I love that.
[00:37:49] Speaker B: So to end on a happier note.
[00:37:51] Speaker A: Because I know this is heavy.
[00:37:53] Speaker B: This is needed. This is needed. And a lot of people are living in shame and living in the shadows with something they're struggling with. And this is part of this show, is to say, no, don't be ashamed. Don't struggle silently. We're here. We're talking about it.
[00:38:11] Speaker A: You're not, like you said, crazy.
[00:38:13] Speaker B: That's not what you are. And so it's important, but let's end on something kind of know. Gina, you always come at us with the fun questions. Do you have a fun question for our guests?
[00:38:30] Speaker A: We. We used this question with one of our guests a few weeks ago.
Christy, we want to know, who is your celebrity crush? It could be a current celebrity crush, maybe childhood celebrity crush. Who is your celebrity crush?
[00:38:45] Speaker C: Oh, how much time do you have? There's been so many in my younger years. It was.
[00:38:55] Speaker A: It.
[00:38:57] Speaker C: Chris Hemsworth is not bad.
[00:38:59] Speaker B: No, not bad to look at. At.
[00:39:02] Speaker C: I forget his real name. Captain America.
[00:39:05] Speaker A: Oh, yes.
[00:39:06] Speaker B: That's another Chris Evans, I guess.
[00:39:09] Speaker C: I'm into the Chris's right now.
So both of them are just lovely. I enjoy both of them.
[00:39:16] Speaker A: Okay, well, we had to know. Nika, you said Paul Rudd. Paul Rudd, yes.
[00:39:22] Speaker B: And you love high credit score.
[00:39:25] Speaker A: Yeah. Anyone who looks like they are stable with a high credit score, bad material. So your.
Yeah, some of your Sean Connery. Yes. So just. Anyway, I guess that's my type. But with that said, I think we should probably end this show now. We've had a fabulous afternoon with all of you. Christy, again, thank you for being with us. And y'all have the best week ever. You are listening to fit to be tied with Sheena and Nika on 90.7 Capstone.
[00:39:59] Speaker C: You.
[00:40:02] Speaker A: W v ua f m tuscaloosa.
