- Hey everyone!
It's Tuesday, and what does that mean?
That means I'm on Tumblr.
But before I get started and answer my questions
from Tumblr today, I wanted to give a shout out to Melissa,
a.k. Idranktheseawater, for coming to VidCon.
For traveling from Montreal or Quebec all the way
over to California and meeting with me and doing some
collaborative videos and just for being you.
And thank you so much for your book.
I got a copy of Melissa's book.
And if you guys haven't checked it out,
I don't know if it's on her website or not.
But definitely look into her channel.
I will link her channel below.
Idranktheseawater, she puts out videos about her experience
and her struggles and her,
I guess, successes with mental health
and kind of just her journey.
And I just want to say thank you so much for taking
the time to reach out to me and for pushing through even
though I know it's real anxiety-provoking to travel alone.
I mean even going to VidCon by myself made me really nervous
and I felt awkward (groans), you know.
Because you're just walking around this
little convention, and it's just really awkward.
So I'm really impressed and I just want to say thank you
and it was so wonderful to meet you in person,
even though I feel like I already know you really well.
But just thank you so much for taking the time
and for reaching out and I look forward to seeing our videos
coming up and I hope that we can do more in the future.
Maybe I'll come to your side.
Okay, so without further ado,
I have two questions I'm answering today on Tumblr,
and hopefully you find these helpful.
Now the first one, and I won't say who these are from
'cause I never know on Tumblr if you go on private or not,
but I'm just gonna read it how it was sent to me.
"Long story short, I'm on long-term medicine,"
six months is in parentheses.
"It restricts a majority of the food I eat
"because of interactions, and I feel it will
"possibly be a major trigger for my eating disorder.
"Any advice or experience with other clients?"
My guess is that you're talking about an MAOI,
which if any of you
wonder what a MAOI is, you can Google that M-A-O-I.
And they're usually something that's
prescribed for depression.
And there are a lot of restrictions.
Pretty much anything fermented that we could
potentially eat, drink like cheeses, wine, vinegars,
it can cause serious side effects.
And so they give us this ginormous list.
I have this list I'm supposed to remind clients about
if I find out that they're on one of these.
But mainly your physician or psychiatrist that prescribes it
would give you this list.
And I completely agree that this can
definitely trigger eating disorder.
I don't know.
There's two things.
First thing, being honest with your doctor about it.
I've had a client switch.
And I know MAOIs are usually because we've had suicidal
thoughts and it can be kind of a
we may have tried other things and they didn't work.
I would talk to my doctor.
I would tell them my concerns
and I would ask if there are any other alternatives.
New medications are coming out all the time
and you may just need an antidepressant
with another thing added on.
There's a bunch of different medications that people
utilize together that don't have
restrictions on what we can eat.
And there are so many options that
that will honestly be my best advice.
I've had my clients do that
because it can be really triggering.
If that isn't an option,
then I would definitely make an appointment
to see a dietician or nutritionist.
If you've been seeing one and you're not
seeing them anymore, I would give them a call
and come up with a meal plan that works around it.
Those are the two things that I've had clients do.
And keep me posted cause I know that the girl
who asked this, we talk pretty frequently.
So let me know, and if you have any other questions
you can always shoot me a message or something, okay?
I hope that helps for any of you that are on MAOIs.
The second question says, "Hi, Kati, so I have a therapist
"and I've been seeing her for about six months now
"because my other therapist moved.
"And I finally opened up to her about starving
"and, literally, the next day she told my parents.
"I didn't say that she could, so I don't know what I can do.
"I don't trust her or anything anymore and what she did
was illegal because I'm not threatening to commit suicide,
"I'm not threatening to kill someone.
"I just want to know what legally I can do?
"I'm 17."
Now, unless she told you at the beginning of treatment
that because you're under 18, she will share information
with your parents without letting you know,
then she breached your confidentiality.
And you can report her
to the BBS if this is in the United States.
It's the Board of Behavioral Services
and I think it's bbs dot,
whatever your state, like I'm in California,
so it's bbs.ca.org, or .gov actually.
So yours, let's say you're in Wisconsin,
it'd be bbs.wi.gov, g-o-v.
And you can report, you can file a complaint
against a clinician and that's something
that they will look into.
And that will go on her record.
Like if you looked me up on the BBS, you'd find
that I haven't had any of those complaints.
But if I had, then you have a right to know, right?
And so you could look that up
and that will be your best bet of doing that.
I think you're going to need her license number and stuff
like that, which is probably on her business card.
And also,
I would encourage you to either find another therapist
or to talk about it with her if you can.
Now I know that the trust may be broken,
the relationship may be broken and you may think
there's no way I can talk to her.
But sometimes, working through things like this
can actually really benefit us in the long run.
It can actually give us more practice for relationships.
I mean, I would assume you've been seeing her for six months
and I'm assuming that there's something there.
And I would talk to her about how much it hurt you
and how now you feel like you can't trust her,
and that you would like to see someone else.
You know she can give you referrals.
I know it can be really anxiety-provoking and it's hard
but the great thing about seeing a therapist
and having a therapeutic relationship is that
it's unlike any other relationship we've had before.
This is a relationship where you're actually working
with a, hopefully, a very
mentally-ready person.
They take care of themselves, they think of others.
And she may just not have realized
how hard this would have been for you.
And instead of talking to you about it,
and saying if I feared for your safety, I'm going to have
to tell your parents, she just leaped over that.
It might be good for you to talk that out with her
and to at least feel like you spoke up for yourself.
And maybe get some resolve.
At the very least you can get some referrals
because seeing someone can be so, so, so helpful.
And the best way to find someone is through word-of-mouth,
when someone else knows of someone in your community
whose would also be a good fit for you.
So those are some things you can do.
You can definitely report her,
and that is definitely not okay.
That is, there's legal and ethical concerns with that.
The legality being the fact that
she told someone without your consent.
And the ethical part being the breach of confidentiality
because there's an understanding that when you tell
something to your therapist, that they'll keep your
confidence, and for them not to is really hurtful.
Also take some time and, you know,
journal about it, think about it.
If you want to leave in my comments below
you know kind of your process with it,
I can give you more feedback that way if you need.
But really, try to see another therapist and potentially,
if you can, work through and talk that out, okay?
So I hope that those answers were really helpful.
Keep your questions coming.
Tomorrow is Wednesday and I will be on the website.
So go on to the forums under Kati Q&A
and ask your questions, and I will get them answered.
And remember, for any other of my sites,
I'm using the hashtag KatiFAQ, so get your questions in
and I will see you all tomorrow, bye!