- Hey everybody!
It's finally Friday, and you know what that means.
It means I got my hair done!
Look, it's straight.
I never do this.
I never straighten it 'cause I'm lazy.
I just wash and wear, that's my style.
But if any of you are looking for a hairstylist
in the LA area, Sarah is my favorite.
I've been seeing her for years and years and years.
And she did this amazing job.
And I'm still growin' my hair out.
But anyway, that's enough about me.
Blah blah blah, right?
So today, it's Friday.
It's finally Friday.
And that means I'm on Facebook.
So if you'd asked your questions,
and you made them short and concise,
and you were like #katiefaq this is my question,
I found 'em, and I'm answering them.
And today I have one to do, I have four.
And I have a journal topic, so stay tuned for that.
And also, if any of you haven't added me on Google+,
I know I say this all the time,
but if you've missed some of the other videos,
don't forget to add me to your circles on Google+
so when you ask a question or you leave a comment
or anything like that, I can respond, I can reply.
'Cause some of you leave wonderful comments
with great questions and then I try to answer
and it won't let me, so Womp Womp.
And I know everybody's like "I hate Google+"
but it really helps me out
so that then I can talk with you more
and that's what we love about our community, right?
So, give this a plus one or like it or both or whatever.
And then we'll keep talkin', okay?
First question.
"Is there a way to get help
"and recover from a mental illness
"without seeing a therapist?"
Great question.
"There's only one in my area
"and he really makes me uncomfortable
"and I'm afraid that my parents might hospitalize me
"at some point, dot dot dot.
"Thanks for all your videos and support."
You're very welcome.
Yes there is.
I'm sorry that you only have one option, that's terrible,
and not everybody fits with everybody.
We need to have more options, we need to have more people.
And that's kind of what I'm hoping to do
by growing our community, is make more people aware,
and get more professionals out there that understand
so we can help one another, right?
But, if that's not an option for you,
there are amazing workbooks and regular books
that you can read to help yourself, as well as journaling,
creating a really nice circle of friends
that are really supportive.
I've found, even for myself,
And if any of you didn't watch the interview I had
with Brad Feld,
he talked about how his friendships with other males,
who work in a stressful job,
and being able to communicate with them and vent with them
has been really helpful for him
and he needs that time, he needs time with his buddies.
And I myself even admit to that.
I see a therapist once a week,
but I also rely on my friends a lot if things are going on.
So those are some options.
If any of you have had a workbook,
I have a widget on my website,
obviously at the bottom of any page on KatieMorton.com
you can look in my Amazon widget,
and those are some books that I recommend.
If there are any books that you recommend let me know,
and let the person that asked this question know,
and also I could maybe add 'em to my widget.
If you want me to, just let me know below, okay?
And those I find the best.
The journaling, the working on our own,
because a lot of the work we've done in therapy,
if we're devoted enough and we put enough time to it,
we can do it on our own, okay?
Question number two.
"What is the difference
"between transvestism and cross-dressing?
Transvestism being like transvestites.
We hear that word a lot but nobody really talks about it.
And I though this was a great question
because we've opened up talking about
being gay, coming out, and all of that,
and how hard that can be for some people.
And the truth of this is, little surprise,
there's no difference.
Transvestism and cross-dressing are the same thing.
Back in, I guess I'll call it the olden days,
back in the 50's, 60's,
they called it transvestism
but people who were transvestites, meaning they,
more predominantly it's men who dress up as women,
that doesn't mean that's the only way that it can happen,
it can be women who dress up as men.
But it's when you dress up as the opposite sex
and act out in that role a lot.
They would call it transvestism,
and those people didn't like that term
and so they coined their own term in the 70's
called cross-dressing.
And since we've had kind of both terms used,
cross-dressing, I have found, is as we would suspect
more well received by people within that realm
who do the cross-dressing.
They prefer to have it be called that.
So anyway, that's just a little information for all of you.
Question number three.
Oh and also, for transvestism stuff,
no that doesn't mean your gay.
I know a lot of people will say that
or will worry about that
and feel really insecure about it,
but that doesn't mean anything.
There's plenty of heterosexual people
who enjoy cross-dressing, okay?
Question number three.
"Do you think certain sports,
"like ones that are judged on how you look,
"aka riding or dancing,
"have a huge effect on eating disorders?
"How can we stop it, slash, become immune to those comments
"if our brains twist comments around
"and we dedicate most of our time to this sport?
"It is so hard because it's always
Thinner, Faster, Stronger Powerful, yet so light, right?
"I just think it's hard
"when you have to wear skin tight clothes
"and judge your body even if you hate it."
Now I know that kinda sounds confusing,
it's kind of a longer question,
but the main question being is,
"What are my thoughts on sports and activities
"that are focused on body image
"and it's all about you being faster or lighter or quicker,
"but yet in your skin tight clothes,
and you lose weight here."
Gymnastics being one, ballet being another.
Horseback riding being yet another.
And there are a lot, a lot of professional athletes,
or even collegiate athletes
or people who compete at a high level.
There's a lot of pressure to look a certain way and do well.
And often times, because
of that quick connection
between getting praise and being successful
and looking a certain way and doing things just perfectly,
obviously that's what we're doing, right?
You're being judged on how you look and what you do.
And then that's how we're kind of basing our value
in our success it life.
It's very easy for us to fall into
eating disorder-like habits.
Now, if it's not something
that we're not willing to give up,
'cause a lot of my clients don't wanna give it up
because it's a big part of our lives, right?
Obviously probably been doing it since we were young
and without it what do we do?
I find the more open we can be about it, the better.
Have a team.
I would encourage you to have a full team,
a therapist, a psychiatrist, a dietician.
And you have to be honest with your coaches.
I know it's uncomfortable.
I know at the beginning you're gonna be like,
"Katie, I don't wanna tell them."
But, in order for them to know,
to maybe not comment on your thighs
or your stomach or whatever
in the way that they were,
if they know that
that might help us more than we can even imagine.
And just saying it and letting them know,
helps us out, right?
And I know it's a uncomfortable and I know we're embarrassed
but that's just your eating disorder talking.
And there's no need to be embarrassed.
People struggle with things all the time.
And there are probably other people on your team
who struggle as well,
and you speaking up and you being honest about it
will really help them out maybe too.
So, I would encourage you to speak up.
If any of you have gone through this,
I know there are many of you out there
who have this same scenario
where you're in in a club or a team or a sport
or something that's focused on body image.
How have you worked on it?
What's helped you?
Have you spoken up to your coaches or your teachers
or parents, and how did that go?
Let us all know so that we can kind of share in that.
But, I think having a team of your supportive people
like your psychiatrist, your therapist, your dietician,
is key, and then as open and honest as we can be about it
the more help and support we'll get, okay?
Question number four.
"My question for you is, can manic,
"slash, depressive episodes, be bipolar and be short?
"I hear about them lasting weeks, slash, months,
"but I was wondering if you can switch from one to another
" within a matter of hours and days.
"I absolutely love your videos.
"I think they're extremely mind-opening and helpful."
Well thank you.
Yes they can be quick.
They can be much more quickly than
once a year I have a depressive episode or a manic episode.
What we call that within the bipolar spectrum
is rapid cyclers.
And to be truthful
this is a very difficult form of bipolar disorder to have
because, like you're saying,
it happens more quickly and we're up and down
and things are really changing quickly
and it's really hard for us to get ahold of it
and help ourselves
in time before it switch into something else.
So having a therapist and potentially getting medicated
are key components to a recovery from that,
and being better able to manage those symptoms.
Also if some of you are thinking,
"Hey my mood is up and down.
"Some days I'm really happy and then I'm really sad.
"What's with that, or is that bipolar disorder?"
Many times we will have ups and downs within our mood
and that's completely normal.
Often if we're not getting the right nutrients,
we're not eating enough,
our mood can be really labile, up and down,
and so having that experience
doesn't mean you have bipolar disorder,
it means that your having mood swings
and a lot of us have those.
Specially if we have PMS too.
If you're a girl and it's right before your period
you may have mood swings where you're crying
but at the same time you're really angry
and you just feel all over the place.
Another thing really quickly about bipolar disorder
is that we can have what is called a mixed episode.
So we have manic, hypomania.
If you haven't watched my bipolar disorder video,
check it out 'cause I explain all of this.
So we have all these levels, right?
But when you have both at the same time
like I talked about in a Q and A, I think yesterday,
that's a mixed episode and it can be really uncomfortable
and we can feel really irritable,
but when we're kinda going back and forth
from one to the other, that's a rapid cycler.
Now, I know it's kinda confusing.
I'll be putting out more videos about bipolar disorder.
Many of you have told me that you wanna hear more,
and I will share more.
So don't worry, that is coming out shortly.
Now the journal topic for today.
I think this is something that we need to do
pretty frequently,
and that is,
"What's something about yourself that you're proud of?"
Proud being the operative word.
I don't want you to
get it connected with any of your mental health issues.
I don't want to be connected to your eating disorder,
your self harm,
or any of your OCD-like tendencies or your anxiety.
I want it to be something that you've done for you,
something you're proud of.
For instance, I'll go first.
I am really proud that I'm a self-sufficient woman.
I work for a living.
I afford my life.
I can pay for my bills,
and obviously I have Sean as well
but I'm able to support myself.
I was supporting myself before I met him.
And I continued to while we were dating.
And that's something I'm really proud of.
I feel really empowered by the fact that I can do that.
I can pay for my own hair cuts.
I can live my life.
And I'm really proud that I'm able to do that.
So what's something that you're proud of?
And let's share so that each of us can maybe learn something
from another person or something about someone
that we didn't know was happening.
I love you all.
Have a wonderful weekend.
I'll be back on Monday,
so make sure to subscribe to my channel
so you can get that topic video.
And I will see you Tuesday, I'm on Tumbler.
So if you wanna ask your questions for another FAQ
I'll be there on Tuesday.
Love you all, have a good one, bye!