-
Symptoms, Risk Factors, and Treatment Options for Eating Disorders
There is a commonly held misconception that eating disorders are a lifestyle choice. Eating disorders are actually serious and often fatal illnesses that are associated with severe disturbances in people’s eating behaviors and related thoughts and emotions. Preoccupation with food, body weight,...
-
Understanding Eating Disorders in Gay Males
The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders estimate that men account for 1 million of the roughly 8 million Americans that suffer from eating disorders (McMurray, 2013). Within the gay community there is a hidden epidemic of eating disorders. Gay men are up to three times...
-
Spotlight on Eating Disorders
What is the most fatal mental disorder? The answer, which may surprise you, is anorexia nervosa. It has an estimated mortality rate of around 10 percent.1 What is the cause of this high rate of mortality? The answer is complicated. While many young women and men with this disorder die from...
-
The Role of Inpatient Treatment in the Management of Individuals with Eating Disorders
Eating Disorders, including anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and binge eating disorder (BED) are serious disorders affecting 2-5% of the population, and are associated with high rates of medical as well as psychiatric morbidity. Notably, suicide is responsible for one in five deaths...
-
Eating Disorders: Early Warning Signs and Assessment
For over two decades, people have been coming to my office to change. My job is to ask important and meaningful questions and to try and understand the answers that I receive. I have needed to know how to closely look for unknown truths never confessed that lead to growth and hope. Livingston...
-
How Do I Prevent My Child from Developing an Eating Disorder?
For most people, eating disorders are mysterious, confusing and frightening disorders. In our society, we are now bombarded with articles and television movies about eating disorders. While the key to prevention is educating the public about how eating disorders develop, these media resources often...
-
Current Trends and Controversies in the Treatment of Eating Disorders
Eating Disorders (ED) such as anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN) and binge eating disorder (BED) are complicated medical and psychiatric illnesses. Patients, families, and clinicians face enormous challenges in their attempts to pursue and support full and lasting recovery. Yet, in spite...
-
Understanding and Treating Eating Disorders
An eating disorder is an illness that causes serious disturbances to your everyday diet, such as eating extremely small amounts of food or severely overeating. A person with an eating disorder may have started out just eating smaller or larger amounts of food, but at some point, the urge to eat...
-
Understanding Eating Disorders: An Overview from the NIMH
An eating disorder is marked by extremes. It is present when a person experiences severe disturbances in eating behavior, such as extreme reduction of food intake or extreme overeating, or feelings of extreme distress or concern about body weight or shape. A person with an eating disorder may...
-
Creating a Team of Professionals to Manage the Patient with an Eating Disorder
Earlier this Spring an 18-year-old graduating senior came to my office for a checkup and told me about the stomach pains she was experiencing. She had already seen a gastroenterologist who had instructed her to eat more fiber and check back in six weeks. Upon further questioning, it became clear...
