Why Relationships Are Key to Happiness and Health

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At our center, we work on relationship issues from our clients’ very first therapy session and all the way through their therapy process – partly because your relationships will change while you are changing and growing, but mostly because relationships are so central to your emotional, mental, and physical health.

We have relationships with many types of people, and some of these interactions can be very complex. We have parents, siblings, children, extended family, in-laws, friends, work colleagues, bosses, teachers, students, neighbors and committee members, not to mention all the strangers we encounter as we move through our day.

People can be difficult to deal with, and our responses to them drive our thoughts and emotions, which in turn drive our behavior. Some people turn to disordered eating or other harmful choices because that seems easier than facing potential confrontations or disagreements with people.

Relationships can also be linked to emotional issues such as low self-esteem (e.g., a history of being teased about size or weight) or depression and lack of control (as a result of physical, sexual or emotional abuse). On the other hand, sometimes it’s when relationships are going well that we’re alerted to other things that need our attention – and we have the safety and support to explore these issues.

Over the next several weeks we’ll delve into a variety of relationship topics and how they intersect with Better Body Esteem® and recovery from eating disorders.

This post was adapted from an earlier post on the White Picket Fence blog.