Wilson Counseling: The Armchair Chronicles

In my last blog post , entitled "Life With A Narcissit,"I talked about what it was like living with someone who has characteristics of narcissism or even full-blown narcissistic personality disorder. You may have recognized someone you know when reading about narcissism. It can be very overwhelming to deal with individuals who have these traits. Even as a victim, you may start to feel like there is something wrong with you. What can you do to remain emotionally intact? Elly Prior has a great article about this entitled " How to Deal With a Narcissist Partner. " Below is an infographic I created showing some of Elly's top 10 tips for surviving life with a partner who has narcissistic traits. Top 10 Tips For Surviving Life With a Narcissistic Partner One of the most important skills you can use to protect yourself with a narcissistic partner is boundary setting. Setting boundaries simply means you are communicating what is and is not okay. It...

During the recent presidential election cycle, people threw around the term narcissist or narcissistic personality disorder a lot when talking about Donald Trump. Many articles were written and tweets tweeted about the subject. As a therapist, I know that I can not diagnose someone I have never examined, but the discussions did call to mind my clients who have partners that exhibit traits of narcissism or even full-blown narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). What is Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD)? NPD is a mental health diagnosis that is characterized by an unhealthy sense of self-importance, a need for admiration, and a lack of empathy for others. Many people have traits of narcissism, but very few, about 6.2% of the population, would meet diagnostic criteria for NPD. You can learn more about it from this nifty animated video: How does narcissism affect you in a relationship? I can recall one client, Cindy,  who came to me feeling...

The Houston Eating Disorder Specialists conference is coming up on February 18th. This conference is not just for those struggling with eating disorders, it also has a track for professionals who treat eating disorders as well as a community track which will have useful information for caregivers and loved ones of those who have an eating disorder. These conferences have been extremely valuable to my client's and their families in the past. If you want to know more about it, or to register, please check out the Conference website below. http://www.houstoneds.org/2017-heds-conference-schedule/

Happy New Year! Make it your New Year's resolution to have a less stressful year. Go to the link below to to find out how to get my audio book (which teaches techniques on how to be less stressed) for 50% off (just $4.99). With this audio, you get two therapists walking you through a new technique every week for 6 weeks to help destress and enjoy your life more. All from the comfort of your home. Use discount code "2017STRONGER" here

​ Wilson Counseling is pleased to introduce you to our newest therapist, Kenra Sulliavan!  Kendra is a Licensed Professional Counselor with  experience working with young children through adults from a variety of backgrounds and life experiences. Kendra began her professional career in the elementary school classroom. After four years of teaching, she began working in the counseling field. At the core of her work, Kendra believes every individual is specially and uniquely created, and she delights in assisting individuals in achieving their full potentials. We are very excited to have someone on board with such strong skills, background and a passion in working with children. She also has really strong skills in working with people who have gone through trauma and loss.  If you think Kendra or any of our staff can be help you move past the places of pain in your life, please give us a call at 713-591-3612 or via email at nancy@wilson...

Some of you will be spending time with family this holiday. You know what they say; you don't get to choose your family. Family can sometimes feel all too free to talk about your body, your eating habits and your weight without any invitation to do so. It's annoying and even hurtful. For someone with an eating disorder, it can often trigger their eating disorder and signal for it to take over and rescue them from the body shame they feel. Even if you don't have an eating disorder, but you have overzealous family or friends who love to get in your business, this article on revelist.com entitled " 9 polite clapbacks to help you deal with body-shaming relatives " can help give you some good comebacks. They won't all fit for you, so feel free to be creative in coming up with your own comebacks. Your body and your food choices are your own. Don't let a well intentioned but mean comment ruin your holiday.

image:nyt.com I will be glad when the presidential election season is over. In the mean time, I am mostly avoiding the news. Here is an article from Mindful.com with other strategies to ease election anxiety.