Author: Anita (Anita Federici)

Anita Federici (Anita)

Dr. Anita Federici is a Clinical Psychologist and the Owner of The Centre for Psychology and Emotion Regulation, a Clinic specializing in the assessment and treatment of eating disorders, personality disorders, and trauma. She serves an Adjunct Faculty position at York University and is a distinguished Fellow of the Academy for Eating Disorders (AED). From 2019 - 2022, Anita served as the Co-Chair for the Suicide and DBT Special Interest Group (SIG) for the AED and currently sits on the SIG Oversight Committee with AED. In 2019, she was awarded Business Woman of the Year by the Meridian Women of Excellence Committee for her outstanding contributions to the community and to the province. In 2020, she was awarded the ‘Outstanding individual who has demonstrated a commitment to the enhancement of healthy lifestyles in our community’ by The Bulimia and Anorexia Nervosa Association.

Anita has an established reputation for her work as a therapist, clinical trainer, researcher, program director and consultant and is a recognized authority on eating disorder treatment and dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT). Anita has had a considerable impact on the field through her leadership, advocacy work, and expertise and has provided more than 350 lectures, workshops, and invited talks. She has worked extensively with hospitals and community organizations nationally and internationally offering team training, implementation support, and program development. Her work has been presented at international conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals and invited book chapters.

PostJanuary 19, 2020January 20, 2020Anita

Clients Cannot Fail Therapy

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is guided by a number of core assumptions about the nature of human behavior and about the process of treatment. Over the next few weeks, I will describe each in turn. One that is high on my list right now, however, is the treatment assumption that clients cannot fail DBT. People often...

PostNovember 18, 2019November 17, 2019Anita

Dear Santa

A mother sent me the attached “holiday song” stating the following: “these are the lyrics of a song that (my grade 3 child) is learning to sing for their Christmas concert. It doesn’t sound right to me and I wanted your professional opinion.” So I read the lyrics. And then I read them again. And...

PostNovember 3, 2019January 18, 2021Anita

The worst part of having a mental illness is that people expect you to behave as if you don’t.

I went to see The Joker last night. It was an extraordinary film to watch, a profound depiction of Arthur Fleck’s severe mental illness played by Joaquin Phoneix, and a disturbing illustration of society’s rejection of what we don’t understand. With unabashed expertise, Phoneix adeptly exposes the gradual erosion of Arthur Fleck’s psyche. A young...

PostMarch 6, 2019January 30, 2021Anita

Dealing with your Self-Critic

Let’s talk about the self-critic that sits on your shoulder or lives in your head or floats about during the day. You know, the one that says: “I am not enough. I am not smart enough. I’m not thin enough. I am ugly. I am a failure. I should have known better. Everyone hates me....