Author: Sibel Golden


Waxing Existential: Why Holly Golightly Needs Her Story

tiffanys

Courtesy Paramount Pictures. In a recent article in The New York Times, entitled “Why Doctors Need Stories,” Peter Kramer makes the case for the use of the anecdote or vignette to fully understand a patient’s experience. Rather than relying on empirical data alone, doctors are factoring in patients’ narratives, viewing them as an important part… Read more »

Waxing Existential: Eating and Existential Anxiety

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In 1997, Steven Bratman, MD, coined the term “orthorexia” to address a particular kind of disordered eating that he personally experienced, and saw in his practice and in his community. Ortho, meaning “right” and orexia, referring to the condition of the appetite, describes an individual who is obsessed with “right” or healthy eating. This is… Read more »

Waxing Existential: Eating Disorders and Meaning Making

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Painting by By Maria Raquel Cochez. Long ago in my practice, I worked with a woman who was struggling with bulimia. She would binge and purge daily, a struggle that she didn’t want, but couldn’t see how she could stop. She was ashamed and demoralized. One day, I put some clay in front of her… Read more »

Waxing Existential: The Dangers of the Creative Process, Part Two

Mark_Rothko

Mark Rothko In The Courage to Create (1975), May stated: In human beings courage is necessary to make being and becoming possible. An assertion of the self, a commitment, is essential if the self is to have any reality.… Courage is not a virtue or value among other personal values.… It is the foundation that… Read more »

Waxing Existential: Binge Eating Disorder

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Photob by Evan-Amos. According to the Binge Eating Disorder Association, “Binge eating disorder (BED) is the most common eating disorder in the United States. An estimated 3.5% of women, 2% of men, and 30% to 40% of those seeking weight loss treatments can be clinically diagnosed with binge eating disorder. The disorder impacts people of… Read more »

Waxing Existential: Forced to Find Meaning

Backer_Last_Judgment

Jacob de Backer’s Last Judgment, circa 1580. I recently watched the film Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, with Steve Carell and Keira Knightley. Without giving it all away, Carell’s character, Dodge, is faced, as is all of humanity, with the imminent end of the world. An asteroid is on course to… Read more »