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Balancing External Goals & Internal Attunement with Dr. Sapna Doshi, PhD
Episode 12. Today on the podcast, I got to talk to my very dear friend and incredibly talented colleague Dr. Sapna Doshi.
Dr. Sapna Doshi is a licensed clinical psychologist and owner of Mind Body Health. Dr. Doshi earned her Ph.D. from Drexel University and completed her internship at Duke University Medical Center. In 2015, she opened her private practice, Mind Body Health which now operates in Arlington, VA and Washington, DC and is staffed with 25 psychologists and dietitians. Mind Body Health specializes in providing evidence-based treatment in the areas of eating disorders, insomnia, obesity, chronic pain, anxiety disorders, and mood disorders.
What We Cover
* What is the field of clinical health psychology doing well?* Where are we missing the mark?* How can people balance working on improving their relationship to food and their bodies when they have difficulty letting go of weight loss as a goal?
Health at Every Size and Intuitive Eating
Dr. Doshi talks about the positive effects of the Health at Every Size movement and Intuitive Eating as an alternative approach.
We also discuss a controversial topic which is the effect she and I have seen where some members of a social movement can come across as shaming to others.
She talked about the environment she has created within her practice where they can have conversations between professionals that are respectful, even if they ultimately disagree. This has created a community where collaboration and focus on the client remains the top priority.
Striking the Balance Between External Suggestions and Internal Cues
Dr. Doshi talks about the balance and difficulty of this in the real world. She discusses her own personal experience with having a diagnosis of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and how challenging it is to tune inwards while having to avoid certain foods she enjoys.
Considerations for the Body Mass Index in South Asian Community
Dr. Doshi talks about her experience as a South Asian woman growing up in the United States. We also talk about her dissertation research and the fact that South Asian women on average actually have higher body fat percentage at a lower body mass index (Doshi, 2012). So again we see the limitations of the body mass index in actually predicting health.
She also discussed a finding from her dissertation that more cultural conflict (that is, more conflict between the South Asian and standard American culture) was associated with higher levels of disordered eating (Doshi, 2012).
Ways to Improve Cultural Adaptations to Improve Care
Dr. Doshi shares a story of her experience being told how to treat her SIBO and the lack of cultural adaptation and flexibility in the standard medical approach.
She also shares about the fact that South Asians are underrepresented in the mental health field. Therefore, it's important to work towards increasing diversity in different health professions.
Why Does Behavioral Weight Loss so Often Fail?
We talked about our experiences with behavioral weight loss trials, and ways in which we were part of methods that were ultimately rarely successful long-term.
"Deprivation is not a state we can constantly be living in."Dr. Sapna Doshi, PhD
She also discusses the fact that prior weight loss attempts can sometimes be romanticized, leaving people to forget the negative and focus on all the positive (e.g., "I think I was happy... I must have been,
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By Dr. Shawn Hondorp, PhD, ABPP
4.9
5454 ratings
Episode 12. Today on the podcast, I got to talk to my very dear friend and incredibly talented colleague Dr. Sapna Doshi.
Dr. Sapna Doshi is a licensed clinical psychologist and owner of Mind Body Health. Dr. Doshi earned her Ph.D. from Drexel University and completed her internship at Duke University Medical Center. In 2015, she opened her private practice, Mind Body Health which now operates in Arlington, VA and Washington, DC and is staffed with 25 psychologists and dietitians. Mind Body Health specializes in providing evidence-based treatment in the areas of eating disorders, insomnia, obesity, chronic pain, anxiety disorders, and mood disorders.
What We Cover
* What is the field of clinical health psychology doing well?* Where are we missing the mark?* How can people balance working on improving their relationship to food and their bodies when they have difficulty letting go of weight loss as a goal?
Health at Every Size and Intuitive Eating
Dr. Doshi talks about the positive effects of the Health at Every Size movement and Intuitive Eating as an alternative approach.
We also discuss a controversial topic which is the effect she and I have seen where some members of a social movement can come across as shaming to others.
She talked about the environment she has created within her practice where they can have conversations between professionals that are respectful, even if they ultimately disagree. This has created a community where collaboration and focus on the client remains the top priority.
Striking the Balance Between External Suggestions and Internal Cues
Dr. Doshi talks about the balance and difficulty of this in the real world. She discusses her own personal experience with having a diagnosis of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and how challenging it is to tune inwards while having to avoid certain foods she enjoys.
Considerations for the Body Mass Index in South Asian Community
Dr. Doshi talks about her experience as a South Asian woman growing up in the United States. We also talk about her dissertation research and the fact that South Asian women on average actually have higher body fat percentage at a lower body mass index (Doshi, 2012). So again we see the limitations of the body mass index in actually predicting health.
She also discussed a finding from her dissertation that more cultural conflict (that is, more conflict between the South Asian and standard American culture) was associated with higher levels of disordered eating (Doshi, 2012).
Ways to Improve Cultural Adaptations to Improve Care
Dr. Doshi shares a story of her experience being told how to treat her SIBO and the lack of cultural adaptation and flexibility in the standard medical approach.
She also shares about the fact that South Asians are underrepresented in the mental health field. Therefore, it's important to work towards increasing diversity in different health professions.
Why Does Behavioral Weight Loss so Often Fail?
We talked about our experiences with behavioral weight loss trials, and ways in which we were part of methods that were ultimately rarely successful long-term.
"Deprivation is not a state we can constantly be living in."Dr. Sapna Doshi, PhD
She also discusses the fact that prior weight loss attempts can sometimes be romanticized, leaving people to forget the negative and focus on all the positive (e.g., "I think I was happy... I must have been,