Lynda Mandell M.D. PLLC

A PSYCHIATRY PRACTICE WITH PSYCHOTHERAPY & PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY SERVICES

 
"Never give up, for that is just the place in time that the tide will turn."
- Harriet Beecher Stowe

Weight Management

Have you ever told yourself that you needed to lose weight, but then did nothing about it, not knowing how or where to begin? Did you do something about your undesired weight, but found it was too hard to continue and gave up? Did you stick with your plan and lose the weight, only to find that you gained it back again? If any of these situations seem familiar to you, you are in the right place. Dr. Mandell has the training and expertise to help you get started and keep you going, by breaking down those barriers that are preventing you from being successful in your weight challenge. She will help you begin and lead you through the journey of weight loss and maintenance to an emotionally happier and physically healthier life.

Weight Management Challenges

As a psychiatrist and oncologist with decades of medical training and practice, Dr. Mandell has observed the existence of a powerful interrelationship between the mind, the world, eating behaviors, and lifestyles. She has seen individuals struggle with weight, but end up unable to take the desired steps to lose the pounds they wanted. These actions are not necessarily because of a lack of willpower, but more so from a lack of motivation and guided direction. Dr. Mandell has seen weight successfully lost, only to be regained, and all too often as a result of re-emerging maladaptive and self-sabotaging emotional and binge eating behaviors.

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She has been witness to individuals suffering through repetitive cycles of weight loss and a sense of emotional and physical well-being, alternating with periods of weight regain and return of depression, isolating behaviors, anxiety, and worsening of physical conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, joint pains, migraines, and asthma. With each failed attempt at achieving sustained weight loss, Dr. Mandell has seen an increase in feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, shame, as well as senses of failure, anger, frustration, sadness, and apathy. These feelings often result in longer and more sustained down periods of ill health.

The Weight Management Journey

Weight loss is often achieved when there is good patient adherence to structured diet programs. Evidence-based studies have shown that adherence is markedly improved in those programs when motivational techniques and educational counseling are incorporated and provided. However, weight loss is just one part of the equation along the weight management journey. Weight maintenance is the second part and has proven to be the harder to achieve. Keeping the weight off may, in fact, require a deeper understanding through analysis and intensive psychotherapy, in addition to motivational and supportive guidance and education.

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It is important to recognize that, in almost every instance, weight management has both physical and emotional aspects. While weight loss will likely improve the physical appearance and also be beneficial concerning a variety of physical illnesses — such as diabetes, heart conditions, and more — it does not necessarily solve the emotional ones that may also exist and be of long standing. In Dr. Mandell's professional experience, the psychological effects of a long-term weight problem on self-esteem, image, emotional well-being, and the ability to cope with life adaptively and healthily is profound. Treating the weight problem and achieving weight loss does not make those long-standing distressful thoughts and feelings go away. They need to be attended to concurrently and addressed professionally to be able to take the weight off and keep it off.