Dr. Jonathan W. Marcotte

Several issues may be creating this problem. Psychologically speaking, impulsive eating can be a way of comforting ourselves when stressed, anxious, and/or depressed. If you have felt unable to satiate your appetite for a while now, think about if you've been experiencing more stress than usual when it started, or ask yourself if you've always dealt with stress by eating to comfort yourself. Also, there are several medical factors that might cause you to eat more (e.g., thyroid issues, hormone imbalances etc...), so if stress is not the answer, then it would be in your best interest to have a medical evaluation. I hope this helps!

I am sorry to hear about this. Anxiety is an emotion that, evolutionarily speaking, helps to both motivate us to accomplish goals and signal to our brain that there is something threatening in our environment. This emotion can go haywire when we have recently experienced a remarkably stressful event, which then bleeds into even small parts of our lives. I highly recommend psychotherapy to develop healthy coping skills for your anxiety and to work through whatever stressors that are making you more anxious than usual in your life.
Some good techniques for calming yourself include the following:

1) Deep breathing techniques - Breath in through nose for 4 counts, hold breath for 4 counts, breath out through their mouth like you are breathing through a straw for 8 counts.

2) Progressive Muscle Relaxation - Progressively tense different muscle groups (feet, legs, torso, arms) for 3 counts, relax for 3 counts, tense for 3 counts, then relax for 3 counts, then move onto the next muscle group.

Other therapists have variations of these techniques, but I hope this helps!

Since I lack information, I highly recommend psychotherapy for your son to work through internal conflicts he has that are underlying his behaviors. As opposed to adults, children have less language abilities for communicating when they are distressed, so "acting out" behaviors indicate that he may be experiencing some depressive and/or anxious symptoms that he does not know how to express. Psychotherapy is very helpful for this.

I am sorry to hear about this. I recommend you consult an addictions rehabilitation specialist, as well as a medical doctor to obtain an evaluation to see if there is a biological component to pain she has. Addictions unfortunately fall into the realms of medical and psychological treatment so both are needed for monitoring her. Additionally, family psychotherapy has been found to be extremely effective for treating adolescents with substance abuse issues. I hope this helps!

I am sorry to hear about this, that is a very scary place to be! I would recommend an eating disorder treatment program for her, unfortunately. I also HIGHLY recommend family therapy so that you two can develop a relationship in which she feels completely comfortable talking to you about her problems and you can develop a way to communicate your love for her without her getting defensive. I know it's a hard journey, but her health and your relationship are worth it! I hope this helps!

Wow, I am so sorry for your loss! There is nothing like the death of a loved one and cancer is incredibly tragic. I highly recommend grief counseling. Sadness, evolutionarily speaking, is an important emotion that tells us that we need to stop and grieve the loss of something or (in your case) someone important. The feelings of sadness do not go away until they are felt, deeply and thoroughly. Counseling will be quite difficult but it is imperative that you experience the sadness of your loss in a safe place so that it can ebb and you can develop some peace. You will never be your old "normal self" without your father in your life, but you will find your new normal and it will be peaceful and just as functional. I hope this helps!

Unfortunately, our environment makes a huge difference on how we feel about ourselves and others and we cannot change others. I recommend counseling to help you explore why this environment affects you (and not others) in such a negative way, as well as to develop more healthy coping skills to deal with this stress. If the negativity is completely overwhelming with no end in sight, then you may need to rethink how much you want to remain in this environment as it has a significant impact on your mental health. I hope this helps!

I am sorry to hear about that! Yes, it is possible to be claustrophobic and those do sound like symptoms of anxiety, though I still know very little information. I would recommend teaching her relaxation skills for when she is in enclosed spaces, such as "deep breathing techniques" - Breath in through nose for 4 counts, hold breath for 4 counts, breath out through their mouth like they are breathing through a straw for 8 counts. If this problem persists and impacts her functioning at home or school, then I recommend child play psychotherapy to help her work through these fears. I hope this helps!