Exercise Psychology, Trauma, and Bodybuilding

Disclaimer: Within this podcast we speak about disordered relationships with exercise, food and body image. We also talk about the potential negative impacts of the bodybuilding lifestyle, including ignoring your needs and amenorrhea.

In this episode of the MyoMinds Podcast I talk to two exercise psychologists, Dr Paula Watson and Clara Swedlund.

Dr Paula Watson is a HCPC-registered Practitioner Psychologist and BPS Chartered Psychologist with 18 years’ experience of developing and delivering health behaviour change interventions, including family-based intervention for children with obesity (GOALS), GP exercise referral, and promoting physical activity for adolescent girls. Until August 2022, Paula worked as a Reader in Exercise and Health Psychology at Liverpool John Moores University before leaving academia to run her independent exercise psychology company (https://madeuptomove.co.uk) where she offers 1-to-1 psychological support for individuals struggling with exercise or diet-related concerns. Paula is currently training for the London Marathon in aid of Mind charity (https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mind-runner).

Clara Swedlund is a trainee exercise psychologist enrolled in the BPS' Qualification in Sport and Exercise Psychology training pathway. She has 6 years of experience working in the fitness industry as a coach, and 3 years of experience working both as a fitness coach and exercise psychologist. Her work is centred around bridging the gap between the fitness industry and applied exercise psychology, by helping people understand themselves, their relationship with exercise and health behaviours, and their wellbeing. Whilst she mainly works on a 1:1 basis with her clients, she also supports fitness coaches and coaching companies in making their practices more psychologically informed.

In this episode, we talk about a huge range of topics (we could have gone for 6+ hours I think). Some of these topics include:

• What is exercise psychology?
• Different problematic relationships with exercise and what a 'healthy relationship with exercise' looks like.
• The way trauma can affect our relationship with exercise.
• Bodybuilding and how it impacted mine and Clara's lives.

If you would like to get in contact with, or just follow the work of Paula or Clara you can find their information below:

Paula:

Twitter: @paula_watson

Instagram: @mind_runr

Website: https://madeuptomove.co.uk

Clara:

Twitter: @ceswedlund

Instgram: @the_Exerpsych

Website: www.theexerpsych.com

Please remember that no episode of the MyoMinds Podcast can be used as a replacement for medical advice and/or care.