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Why do we feel the need to take on others’ opinions?

By EK Wills Why do we feel the need to take on others’ opinions? Today I went to pick out a new pair of glasses and I took someone along to assist the process, who I consider to be a good judge of style aka my husband. Most of the options were dull and I was looking for something with more spark. My support person was choosing different ones to me and it was taking a long time. The sales assistant was most helpful, upsold me to a fancy frame, and I walked away feeling slightl

By EK Wills © artwork by Coco for Goretober Ever gone on a diet? Or looked at your reflection and wanted to change something? Well, who hasn’t, right? Lately, I’ve been seeing people at work who come in to the Eating Disorders Clinic or present to the Emergency Department who have taken those thoughts to a whole added level of serious. These people have become obsessed with weight, in a clinical sense of the word. It could be that they are depressed and feeling that they have

by EK Wills This week was one to test anyone’s patience. And so I was glad to learn about a specific type of therapy that includes skills training on aspects such as distress tolerance and emotion regulation. These are part of a type of therapy called dialectical behavioural therapy or DBT. It was initially developed by Marsha Linehan for people suffering what is labeled borderline personality disorder and, interestingly, she was a sufferer herself. But DBT has now been advoc

by EK Wills I’ve never been good at taking compliments but like to give them freely. Even when I consciously say to myself that I will try and accept them, someone will give me a sneaky compliment and I mumble some excuse to negate it. Like last weekend when a colleague asked me my secret to a youthful appearance, I muttered something about my Chinese heritage and quickly changed the subject. But I have one friend who is very good at accepting compliments and I realised that