In the previous article I interviewed Dr Gray about a book she co-authored entitled Beating Your Eating Disorder: A Cognitive-Behavioral Self-Help Guide for Adult Sufferers and their Carers.
In this article I have interviewed Dr Gray about one of her earlier co-authored books entitled Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Eating Disorders: A Comprehensive Treatment Guide.

I’ve got another set of questions for you Dr Gray if that’s ok
That’s not a problem ask away…

What made you want to be a Psychologist?

If I am really honest I fell into it. I feel very lucky though as it is one of the best tumbles I have taken. So maybe I should answer the question why do I continue to work as a Psychologist. It is endlessly interesting, rewarding and challenging. To be able to help someone who is suffering and support them as they turn things around for themselves is a privilege.

What sort of person makes a good Psychologist do you think?

The work can be quite personally challenging so I think that you need a good handle on your own issues so that you can distinguish between what is your stuff and what is your patients and stay focused on helping them. You also need to be able to empathise with others, sympathising is not enough, to help someone you need to be able to put yourself in their shoes, this is difficult if you don’t agree or don’t like what someone is doing, but as a Psychologist who can’t pick and choose who you help, another reason why you need to be able to put yourself to one side.

Why did you choose to specialise in eating disorders over other mental health problems like substance misuse, personality disorders or OCD?

When you have an eating disorder it is quite common to also suffer from another problem or two usually anxiety, depression, substance misuse, personality disorder, OCD, PTSD, we call it co-morbidity. So when you work with people with an eating disorder you have the opportunity to develop specialist knowledge of a problem without limiting yourself to that problem.

I have heard that an eating disorder is a pretty intractable problem, do you find working just with this problem difficult sometimes?

The short answer to this is yes, sometimes it is challenging to work with people who are very unwell and are unable for whatever reason to get better. However, this just means that the successes are more keenly felt.

If a person with an eating disorder isn’t ready to make any changes what advice would you give them?

I would say as long as you make sure your physical health is stable (you will need a medical doctor to check and monitor this), take your time to weigh up the pros and cons of your eating disorder, not just in the short term but over the longer term too. This will help you to make an informed choice about the best way forward.

And that concludes our interview, thank you very much for giving me the chance to speak to you Dr Gray, it’s been a pleasure, I hope to read more of your work in the future
Thank you for having me, the pleasure is all mine and I hope to write again in the future.

If you would like to purchase this book or find out more information then it is available via Amazon here.