A growing issue among women of all age groups is various types of eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. From an average body-conscious teenage girl to a working professional; almost everyone is obsessed with their perception of an ideal body image.

This can be attributed, in part, to the growing influence of advertising campaigns in our daily lives. Researchers have identified that this undue pressure to constantly focus on appearance has led to the surge of a number of eating disorders. This can be hazardous - particularly keeping in mind the current notion of a perfect female body figure. Today, many women resort to unhealthy weight-control habits driven by their grossly inaccurate perceptions of their body image. Let's check out how and why...

Body image: How many times in the day do you fret about your looks and how you feel about what other people think when they see you? For many, these two questions determine their level of confidence and self-esteem. Broadly, body image is an individual's perception about the sexual attractiveness of his or her body. Though, a psychological perception, a distorted body image can greatly hamper the normal way of living.

Primary factors affecting body image perception: To understand more about the impact of a distorted body image and its association with adverse eating habits, it is a must to understand the basic factors influencing it.

1. Societal pressures: To a great extent, perceptions about the ideal body image are influenced by societal pressures. By societal pressures, we refer to the societal expectations about women's roles, perceived pressure for a thin body and pressure exerted by a peer group or colleagues.

2. Personal factors: This includes factors like dissatisfaction about one's body image, dieting history and life events. Sometimes, even an episode of abuse or trauma can lead to a distorted body image. Hence, while considering the factors, a multi-dimensional view should be used. Apart from this, a familial history of weight issues can also predispose a person to adopt an altered body image perception.

3. Cognitive factors: Sometimes, an altered perception of one's body image may also arise due to an inherent need for acceptance or self-evaluation of achievement. You may also have sub-consciously developed some standards of self-worth or followed the ideals of perfectionism. Such poor cognitive awareness standards may also predispose a person to develop eating disorders.

Common eating disorders: All the above factors, singly or in combination, may trigger an eating disorder in a person. Highly misdiagnosed and misunderstood, these disorders are regarded as complex and chronic disorders that need to be taken seriously to avoid further health complications.

Anorexia nervosa: One of the most hazardous eating disorders, Anorexia Nervosa is characterized by starvation, including little or no food. People with this condition have an obsessive fear about gaining weight and have highly unrealistic body image perceptions. Anorexics can do just about anything to be extremely thin - from over-exercising to complete starvation. If not controlled in time, this condition can affect your skin health, bone growth and even cause your menstruation to stop. Such individuals are also at a greater risk of developing heart failure and other cardiac problems. A number of international celebrities and fashionistas have struggled with the condition including Alanis Morissette and Geri Halliwell.

Bulimia nervosa: One of the classic characteristic of this eating disorder is forcing oneself to vomit after consuming very high quantities of food. People with this condition may also resort to strenuous exercise habits and fasting to help their body get rid of what they ate. Such people usually suffer from signs of clinical depression, stress and other obsessive-compulsive disorders. A differentiating characteristic of bulimia from anorexia is that unlike the latter, patients with bulimia can maintain a normal to above normal body weight and hence can hide their condition from others for years.

Binge eating disorder: A very common form of eating disorder seen especially in women, Binge is characterized by an urge to eat unusually large amounts of food. However, unlike bulimia, this condition is not associated with purging or vomiting. Also, such people usually tend to eat more fats and sugars rather than essential nutrients. Following an episode of overeating, these individuals often feel embarrassed, guilty and disgusted about their habits.

Orthorexia nervosa: In this condition, individuals are obsessed about following a "pure diet" in such a way that it affects the person's daily way of living.
 

Retrieved on October 4th, 2011 from IndiaTimes.com

IT'S been a tough 12 months for Demi Lovato. The teen star was living the dream, riding high on her success as a singer and movie star.

But behind the smiles she was hiding a dark secret - fighting inner demons in the form of eating disorders and self-harm, as well as self-medicating with drugs and alcohol to deal with the stress of her high-octane stardom.

Add to the mix a split with Joe Jonas of Jonas Brothers fame and the 19-year-old couldn't cope.

Finding fame at the age of six on Barney and Friends, and becoming a Disney acting and singing sensation, along with the pressure of being in the spotlight took its toll.

When Lovato's star imploded, she went into rehab for two months to clean herself up, leaving in January this year.

She tells Insider the experience has inspired many of the tracks on her new album, Unbroken.

"It was the journey that I've been on in the last year that inspired me. I'm trying to stay positive," she said. "The songs Fix the Heart and For the Love of a Daughter definitely illustrate some of my experiences."

Speaking from New York, Lovato revealed Fix the Heart is about a traumatic break-up she experienced. And although she will not confirm it was her split with Jonas last year, she does say the experience was "painful".

Nothing could have been more painful than being on a huge tour with your ex, who, to make matters worse, brings his new squeeze along - in this case Twilight star Ashley Greene.

Lovato said For the Love of a Daughter is about the support her mother Diana has given her as she has rebuilt her life.

"She is fantastic. She is my inspiration. She has been through so much and really supported me," she says.

The singer hit rock bottom last year after the stress of touring with her ex and back-to-back promotion for her singing and acting projects.

Things came to a head when she reportedly punched a backing dancer at an airport on the South American leg of her tour with the Jonas Brothers.

She quit the tour and went into rehab. Lovato has made the unusual and brave decision to speak out. She opened her heart over her dark days for the first time to US talk show host Ellen DeGeneres last week, speaking frankly about her experience.

"I had a negative breakdown and it changed my life forever," she said.

"But I am glad that it did, because if I had never gone into the treatment ... I don't know if, one, I'd even be sitting here today; two, if I'd be alive today."

Lovato says she decided to speak out so others can be inspired by her recovery.

"I think that there is a bigger picture. You can take advantage of your position to do some good. Since I have spoken out, I have already had many fans contact me and say, 'you have inspired me to make the decision to get treatment'. That means everything, that I have helped those girls."

The star is positive about her life now.

"It's amazing and I am in a very good place. I have a good head on," she says.

She has put her acting on hold.

"I'm not comfortable enough to be in front of the camera," Lovato says.

She has a new regimen in her life to stay on the straight and narrow.

"I like to ride my bike and I enjoy hiking and I enjoy my time off. I'm taking care of myself."

Article retrieved from thedailytelegraph.com, September 25th, 2011.

The article below explore the relationship between the fashion industry and eating disorders in the wake of 2011 New York Fashion Week.

When the Council of Fashion Designers of America re-released its health guidelines earlier this year, it called for increasing awareness about eating disorder symptoms and recommended a ban on models younger than 16 walking in fashion shows. The goal was industry-specific: To address what the council's website calls the "overwhelming concern about whether some models are unhealthily thin."

But as CFDA CEO Steven Kolb acknowledged, fashion's influence is broader than that.

"As Diane [Von Furstenburg, CFDA president] and I wrote in our outreach letter to the industry ... 'Fashion Week has become a powerful voice, which reaches millions of people across the globe and we should not underestimate the consequences of the messages that we send,'" Kolb said in an email to HuffPost.

According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, nearly 70 percent of girls in grades five through 12 said magazine images influence their ideals of a perfect body. In so-called "pro-anorexia" forums, posters write about watching fashion shows and combing magazines for "thinspiration."

Yet little hard data exists about whether or not the ubiquity of ultra-thin models causes people outside the industry to develop disordered eating or full-blown eating disorders.

"In general, when I'm working with patients, this concept of a 'thin ideal' does come up," said Dr. Allegra Broft, a psychiatrist in the Eating Disorders Program at Columbia Psychiatry, who explained that eating disorders are very complicated in terms of their etiology.

"It's reasonable to say that exposure could be a factor in the development of eating disorders," she continued. "But has a causal link been established? No."

The National Institute of Health estimates the lifetime prevalence of anorexia and bulimia is 0.6 percent of the U.S. adult population, but among 13- to 18-year-olds, it is 2.7 percent. There are numerous risk factors, including being female, age (eating disorders are most common in the teens and early 20s), family history and influence, as well as the presence of additional mental health issues.

According to HuffPost blogger Susan Albers, Psy.D., a psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic, exposure to thin models could also play a role.

"Although thin models are not the cause of eating disorders, they can be a trigger or a factor in maintaining an eating disorder," she said. "In other words, if a woman has a predisposition for an eating disorder and spends a lot of time looking at fashion magazines, this can be one of the factors that triggers feeling bad about her body, which she then turns into eating disorder behavior, like excessive dieting."

Much research has suggested a relationship between the two, though Dr. Anne E. Becker, a professor of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, said there has not been any single, definitive scientific study. Experts say her own research is among the most interesting on how media might influence body image and problems.

Becker's work has concentrated on Fiji, where she found the arrival of the television corresponded with, among other things, an increase in disordered eating, including vomiting to lose or control weight. A follow-up study found that second-hand or peer exposure was particularly powerful, with friends discussing, copying and internalizing media images. Though Becker cautioned against extrapolating such results to the U.S., she said individuals here could be influenced by fashion in a similar way.

"With Fashion Week, and all of those thin models, and clothing that looks best on a size zero -- what that does is set a standard of what is socially desirable and prestigious that is likely to have a powerful influence on social norms," she said. "If one day we had a Fashion Week where there were size 16 models, I suspect that would be very influential, too."

HuffPost blogger and plus-size model Leona Palmer said that day could be far off: Plus-size models rarely walk in fashion shows, she said, and she doesn't anticipate that changing. (Both Ford and Wilhelmina, which operate plus-size divisions, declined to comment on booking trends.)

But the 30-year-old says she has worked steadily since she began modeling seven years ago, explaining there is "far more" work in catalogs. Palmer also cautioned that plus-size models are not necessarily any healthier in terms of their eating habits than their "straight-size" counterparts.

Yet the model said she does feel a sense of responsibility when it comes to influencing body image and issues on a broader scale, both in terms of young girls going through what she described as "average American girl food issues" like she did, as well as those who are at risk for more serious eating disorders.

"It's why I did this," Palmer said. "I was really ambivalent about it, but my mom said, 'If you had been growing up and seen someone who looked like you in a magazine, it would have changed your life.' And I thought, 'You're right. It would have, in terms of what I thought I needed to fit into in order to feel beautiful.'"

Article retrieved from Huffington Post online September 13, 2011.

The article below discusses the rising prevalence of eating disorders in young children and adolescents.

Eating disorders among teens and pre-teens are becoming a growing concern for parents. Gymnasts who are hardly 10 year old take up anorexia and bulimia as a way to stay in shape. Young dancers especially in ballet need to remain skinny for their routines. These challenging fields lead to little kids taking up self purging as a way to stay in shape.

Weight is a constant obsession for these kids. They constantly check up their bodies to see any sign of weight gain. Eating disorders are harmful at all ages. It is difficult to recognize these symptoms in children. The effects are far more dangerous.

Children have low percentage of fat so they tend to get sicker than adults and adolescents. The bodies and brains are also developing at this point. Eating disorders limit the growth and damage vital organs like brain, heart, liver etc. These disorders, if recognized early, can be treated successfully. Teenagers have faced these problems commonly. But it is rather alarming to see kids from the age of 9 to 11 also face these disorders. There are girls and boys who suffer from eating disorders.

The average age for eating disorders was recorded from 13 to 17. But now it seems that the age had lowered. The children of age 7 have also bee diagnosed with these diseases, says Abigail Natenshon, author of ‘When Your Child Has an Eating Disorder’.

The preteens have been affected the most today. 5 percent of adolescents are also affected. There are about 10 percent adult anorexics that showed symptoms from a really early age. Children today are the most vulnerable to these eating disorders due to media projections of unhealthy body standards. Children are most susceptible to these images of skinny models on TV or in a magazine and yearn for bodies similar to them.

 article retrieved from wikipeers.com, August 16, 2011.

The article below discuss the prevalence of eating disorders in the male population.

In an article in this month's Marie Claire magazine, Dr. Ovidio Bermudez, a colleague of mine at Eating Recovery Center and a nationally recognized eating disorders expert, noted the heightened prevalence of eating disorders in non-traditional demographic groups. He explained that the health care community has moved away from thinking of eating disorders as a "Caucasian, upper-middle-class, 'princess' disease" toward recognizing these illnesses as an "everybody's disease."

Underscoring this fact is the rising incidence of eating disorders among the male demographic, challenging the traditional conception of eating disorders as a woman's illness. In recent years, data point to the increasing number of men and boys presenting with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and related food and body image disorders. In fact, research suggests that male eating disorders now account for at least 10 percent of all cases. Interestingly, despite significant biological, psychological and sociological differences between men and women, the etiology of eating disorders remains fairly constant between the two genders.

From a biological standpoint, anorexia and bulimia are equally inheritable in men and women, with approximately 40 to 60 percent of the risk of these disorders resulting from an individual's underlying genetic makeup. Anorexia, in particular, has been found to be as inheritable as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Because of the inheritability of eating disorders, males that begin a diet or exercise regimen often find themselves on a slippery slope that will almost always activate the latent genetic predisposition that sets them up to have an eating disorder.

Like in their female counterparts, eating disorders in men and boys are often supported by psychological and sociological pressures, such as traditional gender roles and socially accepted ideals of masculinity. Just as media messages targeted to women and girls promote unrealistic ideals of beauty and tips for achieving the coveted thin physique, males are bombarded with media messages about masculine ideals of strength and six-pack abs. The pursuit of these elusive ideals, or the recognition that perfection eludes them, can often result in a feeling of isolation from which eating disorders can often emerge.

Regardless of gender, early intervention in eating disorders is incredibly helpful in achieving lasting recovery. While these aren't addictive disorders, they're compulsive disorders, meaning if an eating disorder has enough time to embed itself in one's identity and lifestyle, it becomes even more difficult to interrupt eating disorders behaviors and treat successfully. When seeking male eating disorders treatment, it's important to seek recovery resources with experience in addressing this fundamentally underserved eating disordered population and an understanding of their unique recovery challenges.

Retrieved from huffingtonpost.com, July 5th, 2011

The article below outlines a new walk that will take place in Chicago to raise awareness for eating disorders.

Timberline Knolls the lead sponsor for fundraiser; forms walk team to support NEDA

CHICAGO, June 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Recovery from an eating disorder is a long and lengthy battle, and one that must be accomplished one step at a time. And on June 25, supporters and advocates will gather at 10:30 a.m. in Lincoln Park for the inaugural one-mile Chicago NEDA Walk, sponsored by Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center.

The National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) is bringing together the Chicago community to increase eating disorder awareness and raise funds to support individuals and families affected by eating disorders. As a premier national residential treatment center, Timberline Knolls is doing its part as the lead sponsor for the event and by forming its own walking team – The TK Trekkers – led by medical director, Kimberly Dennis, M.D., with team participants that include staff, former residents, families and friends, and other behavioral health professionals. Timberline Knolls has a goal to recruit 50 or more individuals to join its team for the event.

"Awareness efforts are key in fighting eating disorders," said Dr. Dennis. "I hope many can join us on June 25, as we walk to raise awareness and help to fight these deadly diseases. If you can't be there in person, any contribution will help NEDA continue to build on critical programs and services. We can all be part of the solution."

Chicago joins eight other cities around the country that will host upcoming walks in 2011: Napa, Calif.; Methuen, Mass.; Portland, Ore.; Florence, Mass.; Williamsburg, Va.; Charlottesville, Va.; Charlotte, N.C.; and NEDA's largest walk will take place in New York City in October. Walks in other cities are continuously being added, which can be organized by anyone, anywhere. For more information on how to coordinate a walk in your city, visit http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/programs-events/neda-walk-coord.php.

You can pre-register for the Chicago walk online (http://neda.nationaleatingdisorders.org/site/TR?fr_id=1420&pg=entry) or in person beginning at 9:30 a.m. the morning of the event. Interested persons can join The TK Trekkers, form their own walking teams, or walk as individuals.

"Eating disorders are serious, deadly diseases, but treatment is available, and lifelong recovery is possible for all those affected. We can all help to make a difference, one step at a time," said Dr. Dennis.

In the United States, as many as 10 million females and 1 million males are fighting a life and death battle with an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia, and millions more are struggling with binge eating disorder. This makes groups like NEDA all the more needed and important, and events to raise funds and awareness vital.

Timberline Knolls is a leading private residential treatment center for eating disorders and substance abuse, with or without trauma, a dual diagnosis or co-occurring disorder for women and girls (ages 12 and older) in suburban Chicago.

Article retrieved from PRNewswire.com, June 7th, 2011.

The article below discusses recent medical findings regarding body dysmorphia in patients with eating disorders.

People with body dysmorphic disorder process visual information abnormally, study finds

WEDNESDAY, June 1 (HealthDay News) -- Body dysmorphic disorder, an illness that causes people to see themselves as disfigured or ugly, is linked to an abnormality in how visual information is processed, and the image distortion extends to the world around them, according to a new study.

dblclick('xxlA');  In their research, investigators at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) found that people with body dysmorphic disorder, or BDD, have less brain activity when processing images as a whole -- what they call "the big picture" -- than they do when looking at things in detail.

"Many psychological researchers have long believed that people with body-image problems such as eating disorders only have distorted thoughts about their appearance, rather than having problems in the visual cortex, which precedes conscious thought," the study's lead author, Dr. Jamie Feusner, assistant professor of psychiatry and director of the Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Intensive Treatment Program at UCLA, said in a university news release.

"This study, along with our previous ones, shows that people with BDD have imbalances in the way they see details versus the big picture when viewing themselves, others and even inanimate objects," Feusner continued.

For the new study, Feusner and colleagues scanned the brains of 14 people with BDD and 14 healthy participants without the disorder ("controls") as they looked at digital pictures of houses. Some of the photos included fine details while others were changed to show only general shapes. When looking at the less-detailed photos, less activity in the parts of the brain that process visual information was noted among BDD patients than among control participants. The authors noted that these findings were even more pronounced in more severe cases of BDD.

"The study suggests that BDD patients have general abnormalities in visual processing," Feusner explained in the news release. "But we haven't yet determined whether abnormal visual processing contributes as a cause to developing BDD or is the effect of having BDD. So it's the chicken-or-the-egg phenomenon."

The findings, released online in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of the journal Psychological Medicine, could be used to develop treatments to help people with distorted self-images -- including those with BDD, obsessive-compulsive disorder or eating disorders -- reconfigure how they view themselves, the authors suggested.

"No study until this one has investigated the brain's activity for visually processing objects in people with BDD," noted Feusner. "This is an important step to figuring out what's going wrong in the brains of people with BDD so we can develop treatments to change their perceptions of themselves."

Article retrieved from health.usnews.com, June 2, 2011.

The article below discusses the prevalence of eating disorders in young girls.

By: Katie Gibas

Over eight million in the United States have eating disorders. Seven million of them are women and girls. The usual age of onset is either adolescence or when a woman goes off to college or moves out of her parents' home. But as our Katie Gibas reports, the number of girls developing eating disorders at younger ages is increasing at an alarming rate.

UNITED STATES -- With all the images of super skinny supermodels on TV and in magazines, there are a lot of unrealistic pressures on young girls about what their bodies should look like. And that message seems to be having a more detrimental effect on children than ever before.

"The kids we were seeing with eating disorders were getting younger and younger," said David Rosen, Adolescent Eating Disorder Specialist.

Statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services show the number of people under the age of 12 admitted to the hospital for eating disorders sky rocked 119 percent in less than a decade. These diseases now account for 4% of all childhood hospitalizations.

"The people who really need to know this are parents and people at schools and if those folks don't realize that kids this young are at risk for eating disorders, get eating disorders, that the weight loss they're seeing might be related to eating disorders, then the diagnosis and the management of these kids, just gets delayed to the point where it becomes more difficult," said Rosen.

Dr. Rosen says he's seen children as young as eight come in for treatment for eating disorders. And experts aren't really sure what's causing the drastic increase. It could be the fear of obesity and trying to prevent it could be backfiring. It could be that women are maturing at an earlier age, but regardless of the causes, the question for doctors now becomes what can they do to prevent children from developing eating disorders.

"There are some programs out there. There are some that are being tested. But there are really no effective prevention programs, so early identification is really critical. It will have to involve the family also. As much as it is talking about what are healthy attitudes towards food and your body, and why is it that you shouldn't be dieting," said John Wohlers, Centre Syracuse Eating Disorder Center Clinical Director.

Eating Disorder experts say the recovery rate for adolescents is about 80 percent, while for adults with the disease, it's only 30 percent.

For more information on eating disorders:

eating-disorders-treatment.com

nationaleatingdisorders.org

Article retrieved from centralnynews.com, May 29th, 2011.

The article below discusses the role of Dopamine in eating disorder symptoms and treatment.

Although most people find pleasure in eating and even have a difficult time refraining from foods they love, individuals suffering from anorexia nervosa often say that eating makes them feel more anxious. Instead, refusing to eat — something called food refusal – is what brings more pleasure.

New research, published online in the journal International Journal of Eating Disorders, helps explain why these symptoms occur in anorexia.  

For the study, scientists administered a one-time dose of the drug amphetamine which releases dopamine in the brain; positron emission tomography (PET) was then used to visualize the subsequent dopamine activity.

In healthy subjects without an eating disorder, the amphetamine-induced release of dopamine was associated with feelings of extreme pleasure in the brain’s “reward center.” However, in people with anorexia, amphetamine made them feel anxious and activated the part of the brain that worries about consequences.

“This is the first study to demonstrate a biological reason why individuals with anorexia nervosa have a paradoxical response to food,” said Walter Kaye, M.D., professor of psychiatry and director of the Eating Disorder Treatment and Research Program at the University of California-San Diego School of Medicine.

“It’s possible that when people with anorexia nervosa eat, the related release of the neurotransmitter dopamine makes them anxious, rather than experiencing a normal feeling of reward. It is understandable why it is so difficult to get people with anorexia to eat and gain weight, because food generates intensely uncomfortable feelings of anxiety.”

Significantly, the study included individuals who had recovered from anorexia for at least a year, suggesting that the feeling provoked was possibly due to pre-existing traits, rather than a response to being extremely underweight.

Currently, there are few treatments proven to reduce core symptoms in anorexia, including eating-induced anxiety. Finding ways to help anorexic individuals eat and gain weight is necessary for treatment, even when food is still accompanied by severe anxiety.

The study was supported in part by the National Institute of Mental Health and the Prince Foundation.

Retrieved from psychcentral.com, May 22nd, 2011.

Soujanya is a pretty young girl and has just entered the third year of college. In the past two years, she has gone from being an overweight adolescent to an extremely thin, starved-looking girl. Her parents are alarmed. What has happened to their daughter?

Soujanya suffers from an eating disorder. An eating disorder can range across extremes of the spectrum. It may involve extreme reduction or extreme consumption of food. The majority of people suffering from eating disorders are girls and young women. In urban and rural India, the rising wave of obesity is causing intense concern to health care providers. In this scenario, eating disorders may not get enough attention. However, girls suffering from these disorders are at high risk for major health issues and even fatalities.

Types of eating disorders

The commonest eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder.

Eating disorders are treatable and require both nutritional and psychological counselling. It requires the cooperation of the family and behaviour modification for the family as a whole.

Anorexia nervosa

Soujanya is a classic case of anorexia nervosa. Starting out overweight, she developed an unhealthy obsession with her weight because of some nasty remarks made by college mates. Girls suffering from this disorder relentlessly pursue weight loss to the point of emaciation. They develop a terrible body image and perceive themselves as being ‘fat' even when they are painfully thin. Food becomes their enemy and they develop an intense fear of gaining weight. As their weight drops below a certain limit, they may stop having their periods.

Girls with anorexia lose weight by extreme reduction of food intake and excessive exercising. Classically, a girl with this disorder will cut an idli into miniscule pieces and then feel ‘full' after eating two of those pieces. Some girls will lose weight by self-induced vomiting or misusing laxatives. Typically, these girls will weigh themselves repeatedly. Many people with anorexia also have psychiatric and physical illnesses, including depression, anxiety and obsessive behaviour.

If not treated aggressively, this disorder may lead to major health problems. It is important to be completely sympathetic with the sufferer and not try to shame her more. The family has to pitch in totally and provide her psychological support. Mealtimes should not become pitched battles. Instead, supervised meals in a pleasant atmosphere will go a long way in helping her out of this problem. Psychiatric counselling from a sympathetic professional is an essential part of the treatment.

Bulimia nervosa

Princess Diana made bulimia nervosa a household word when it was revealed that she was bulimic. Bulimia is essentially binge-eating followed by a type of behaviour that compensates for the binge, such as purging (e.g. vomiting or excessive use of laxatives). The repeated induced vomiting can lead to a chronically inflamed and sore throat, worn tooth enamel and increasingly sensitive and decaying teeth as a result of exposure to stomach acids. Bulimics tend not to be excessively thin and may actually have a normal weight but are obsessed with their weight and body image. Similar to anorexia, people with bulimia often suffer from depression and anxiety.

Intense psychological support along with behavioural therapy will help girls and women suffering from bulimia. A physician may also prescribe an antidepressant if depression is a major part of the problem.

Binge-eating disorder

Girls and women with this disorder are plagued with guilt and self-loathing because they are unable to control the amount they eat. They have recurrent binge-eating episodes where they continue to eat well after they are full. The typical binge may consist of eating an entire box of sweets or a whole brick of ice-cream after having completed a large meal. Some binges may last a whole day, leaving the person feeling physically and emotionally sick. As a result, people with binge-eating disorder often are overweight or obese.

People with binge-eating disorder need psychological support and positive motivation. Instead of shaming them, a proactive program of exercise and supervised eating will help them break bad food habits. The family should cooperate by drastically modifying eating patterns in the house. Temptations like sweets, chips, aerated drinks and other junk food should be banned from the house.

The author is an obstetrician and gynaecologist practising in Chennai and has written the book 'Passport to a Healthy Pregnancy'.

Article retrieved from thehindu.com, May 15th, 2011.

The article below discusses thoughts on the meaning of recovery.

By ABBY ELLIN

Published: April 25, 2011

Dr. Suzanne Dooley-Hash believes that she will never fully recover from the anorexia that has plagued her since she was 15 years old.

For many years, she did not take laxatives constantly to lose weight, as she did in the mid-1980s, and her health was “relatively O.K.” Thoughts about her weight did not occupy every second of every minute of every day.

But in 2005 she relapsed, losing one-third of her body weight in six months. She took off 19 months from her job as an emergency room physician at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor to devote herself to getting her life back in order.

Like many patients with eating disorders, however, she is not sure what recovery means.

“Does it mean ‘functional?’ ” asked Dr. Dooley-Hash, 45. “I’m a physician at a really high-powered institution, and I’ve published in well-respected journals — I’m functional. I don’t think functionality is necessarily a good measure.”

Dr. Dooley-Hash is not alone in her confusion. Most medical experts agree that a third of people with the disorder will remain chronically ill, a third will die of their disorder, and a third will recover — with one significant caveat. There is surprisingly little agreement as to what “recovery” means for people with anorexia.

Indeed, just a handful of studies on long-term recovery rates have been conducted over the last decade or so, and different parameters were used in each one.

“Without consistency, it’s hard to compare across studies,” said Dr. Michael Strober, a professor of eating disorders and psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles. “You just have to know how recovery is defined in each study to have a balanced interpretation.”

It is difficult to define recovery from an illness that has both physical and mental dimensions.

If, for example, a patient reaches “normal weight” — which researchers define as either 85 or 95 percent of a person’s ideal weight — and starts menstruating again, she would be considered to have recovered in most studies.

But what if she still weighs herself daily, monitors her calories with a vengeance and obsesses about food and the size of her ankles? Or, as is often the case, moves from anorexia to bulimia or binge-eating disorder?

“About 50 percent of people with anorexia will be able to reach and maintain a normal weight, but most of them are very preoccupied with the calorie content of food,” said Dr. Katharine Halmi, professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.

Still, she added: “Many people who’ve never had anorexia watch their diet carefully. So the big issue is, how do you define recovery? Maintaining a normal weight, recurrence of menstruation is easy to document. Mental status is a different problem.”

With that in mind, many with anorexia prefer to view recovery as many alcoholics do — the disease may be in remission, but the potential for relapse always lurks in the background.

“Some people find comfort in saying ‘recovering’ so they don’t have to be responsible for being recovered, which means ‘I will never relapse,’ ” said Aimee Liu, 57, author of “Restoring Our Bodies, Reclaiming Our Lives.” Others, she said, liken their eating disorder to managing a chronic illness like diabetes, requiring constant vigilance.

“I say to patients, ‘This is your Achilles’ heel,’ ” said Dr. Daniel Le Grange, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Chicago and director of the eating disorders program at the University of Chicago Medical Center. “If you have another crisis, you’re predisposed to resorting to starvation as your way of managing that issue. It would be foolish of us as clinicians not to prepare our patients that they should be on the lookout for a recurrence.”

Most doctors believe recovery from anorexia is rarely absolute and more often occurs by degrees. While patients may get better, aspects of their disease will continue to nag at them.

“The literature suggests you can have physical recovery from the weight loss, but the cognitive symptoms might not continue to get better,” said Dr. Kamryn T. Eddy, a psychologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. “They definitely do improve, but one of the things we wonder is, how well does one have to be to be ‘recovered’? And how well does one actually get?”

In the absence of expert consensus, patients and caregivers have come up with their own definitions of recovery.

Harriet Brown, author of the recently released “Brave Girl Eating,” a memoir of her 14-year-old daughter’s bout with anorexia, defines it as “absolutely ordinary relations with food.”

And what exactly is ordinary? “That thinking about food does not consume large quantities of your time and energy,” she said in an interview. “You enjoy food, you don’t undereat or overeat often, you don’t meet any of the diagnostic criteria for anorexia. Your weight is in a healthy range for you. And most of all, you’re able to live life in a way that’s not completely organized around food and eating.”

For Ms. Liu, recovery is a “full restoration of nutritional, physical, emotional and psychological health.” But in a telephone conversation, Ms. Liu, who was actively anorexic from age 13 to 20, acknowledged that without good treatment many people spend years in what she called the “half life” of anorexia.

“They recover nutritionally and suspend the behaviors of starving, bingeing and purging,” said Ms. Liu, who suffered a relapse 11 years ago. “But the self-criticism, self-abuse, perfectionism, judgmentalism and restrictive mind-set persist.”

Still, both doctors and patients emphasize the importance of believing that full recovery is an option.

Kathleen MacDonald, a policy assistant at the Eating Disorders Coalition in Washington, was anorexic and then bulimic for 16 years, but considers herself fully recovered since 2004.

“People always said once you have an eating disorder, you’re always going to have an eating disorder,” she said. “I tell people, ‘There was a time in your life when you didn’t have an eating disorder, and if that’s possible, anything is.’ ”

For Dr. Dooley-Hash, the future feels a little murkier.

“I feel like I can’t ever be off guard,” she said. “The next time I’m overwhelmed and stressed, my first instinct is going to go back to restricting. I think I would be naïve to think it would ever not be a part of my life.”

Retrieved from New York Times Online, April 26th, 2011.

The article below discusses consideration of two potentially new eating disorders.

By Lisa Collier Cool
Apr 07, 2011

I have a friend who will only eat short pasta, like penne. Another friend sticks to long pasta - linguini, spaghetti. I thought that was a bit bizarre until I read about Heather Hill, 39, whose diet consists entirely of French fries, pasta with butter or marinara sauce, vegetarian pizza, cooked broccoli, corn on the cob, and cakes and cookies without nuts.

Ms. Hill isn’t alone. New findings indicate that there may be hundreds, if not thousands, of adult picky eaters. To get a handle on the numbers, Duke University and the University of Pittsburgh have launched a national public registry of adult picky eaters. Respected publications like JAMA and Psychology Today are recognizing another new eating disorder, orthorexia, an obsession with healthy eating. That may not sound bad, as obsessions go, but those who carry good intentions too far can face serious risks. 

Eat the right foods to keep your bones strong.

Kristie Rutzel, 27, dropped to 68 pounds when she was in the grip of her fixation on healthy eating - at one point she ate little more than raw broccoli and cauliflower. Neither adult picky eating disorder nor orthorexia is included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), the American Psychiatric Association’s “bible” of mental disorders. Once a disorder is listed, treatment is often covered by insurance and it’s easier for researchers to get grants to study it. Here’s what we know so far:

• What is Adult Selective Eating? Like kids, adult picky eaters limit themselves to an extremely narrow range of foods. Unlike those who suffer from anorexia nervosa or bulimia, adult picky eaters are seemingly not worried about calorie counts or body image. But so far, researchers don’t know if adult picky eaters just haven’t outgrown childhood patterns or if their eating habits are a new twist on obsessive compulsive disorder. Some may be “supertasters,” with an abnormally acute sense of taste that turns them off certain foods. Many appear to have had unpleasant childhood associations with food.

• What is orthorexia? Identified in 1997 by Colorado physician Steven Bratman, MD, orthorexia is Latin for “correct eating.” Here, too, the focus isn’t on losing weight. Instead, sufferers increasingly restrict their diets to foods they consider pure, natural and healthful. Some researchers say that orthorexia may combine a touch of obsessive compulsive disorder with anxiety and warn that severely limited “healthy” diets may be a stepping stone to anorexia nervosa, the most severe - and potentially life-threatening - eating disorder.

What do they eat?

• Adult picky eaters: Food preferences tend to be bland, white or pale colored - plain pasta or cheese pizza are said to be common foods along with French fries and chicken fingers. Some picky eaters stick to foods with a common texture or taste.

• Orthorexics: Those affected may start by eliminating processed foods, anything with artificial colorings or flavorings as well as foods that have come into contact with pesticides. Beyond that, orthorexics may also shun caffeine, alcohol, sugar, salt, wheat and dairy foods. Some limit themselves to raw foods.

Check out this mobile phone app that guides healthy food choices.

What are the risks?

• Health consequences: Limiting your diet to only a few foods - because you’re a picky eater or have a long list of foods you deem unhealthy - can lead to potentially dangerous nutritional deficiencies. At its most extreme, a diet limited to only a few foods perceived to be healthy is described as orthorexia nervosa and can lead to the same emaciation and health risks seen with anorexia nervosa.

• Social Isolation: Being an adult picky eater can take an enormous social toll. Out of embarrassment, these folks avoid dining with friends or co-workers. Heather Hill tries to hide her eating habits from her children for fear that they will pick them up. Going to extremes in an effort to eat only healthy foods can also be socially isolating and can undermine personal relationships.

How are these disorders treated?

• Adult Selective Eating: Techniques that have proven successful in treating kids who are picky eaters - learning assertiveness skills and systematically trying new foods - are being used on adults, but it’s still too soon to know whether they work.

• Orthorexia: Cognitive behavior therapy designed to change obsessive thought patterns regarding food is usually recommended. 

Retrieved from Yahoo Health Online, April 26th, 2011.

The article below highlights the unrealistic female body type of 'Barbie,' and the effect it may be having on American girls.

(CBS) For generations of young women, Barbie has been larger than life. But when Galia Slayen, a Hamilton College student who once battled an eating disorder, tried to make an actual life-size Barbie, she was shocked at the result - a freakish woman with pencil-thin legs, breasts that threatened to topple her over, and a body mass index (BMI) that would put her squarely in the anorexia camp.

"If Barbie were an actual woman, she would be 5'9" tall, have a 39" bust, an 18" waist, 33" hips and a size 3 shoe," Slayen wrote in the Huffington Post. "She likely would not menstruate... she'd have to walk on all fours due to her proportions."

Slayen estimates Barbie would weigh 110 pounds and have a BMI of 16.24. She based her numbers on the book "Body Wars" by Dr. Margo Maine, and readily admits the doll's head, hands and some other features are not to scale.

"The goal of Barbie is to get just get people's attention," Slayen told CBS News. Eating disorders are "very prevalent and not talked about. It's sensationalized in the media every time a star loses weight, but this is a very internal struggle."

Slayen's own struggle started when she was 15 in Portland, Ore. She battled pressures at school to look and act a certain way and her relationship with her parents was so troubled that she obtained legal separation (emancipation) from them.

"I was living on my own and trying to figure out how I was going to survive," she said. "My life was completely out of control and it was the one thing I was able to control - the hours at the gym, the calories I was in-taking. It's a means to control your life."

"This is a young woman who has fought through this disorder and now has a voice to fight for other women," says Marisa Sherry, a registered dietitian in New York who specializes in eating disorders. 

Sherry says the proportions of Slayen's life-size Barbie are cause for concern.
 

"A BMI of under 17 is considered underweight or anorexic," she tells CBS News. "That puts you at high risk for negative side effects like osteoporosis, amenorrhea (not being able to menstruate) and low heart rate."

As many as 10 million Americans are now struggling with eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, according to the National Eating Disorder Association. A recent study found that teens are hit hard - as many as 500,000 have had an eating disorder. People with eating disorders are at high risk for depression, suicide and substance abuse. The condition can lead to sudden death.

"There are so many misconceptions," says Slayen. "Eating disorders are are not a choice. They are not a thing of vanity. They are disease and they are really serious."

Slayen says she's not mad at Barbie, which she played with as a child, but wasn't "obsessed" over. She says she first built the life-size Barbie as part of National Eating Disorder Awareness Week when she was in high school and is now showing her off at college where she is studying China and government. Slays says she recently raised more than $10,000 for the cause and wants insurance companies and the federal government to take notice.
 

"A lot of insurance companies don't cover eating disorders," she says. "They don't see this is not a choice."

Article retrieved from CBSnews online, April 20th, 2011.

Retrieved from Seattlepi.com, April 10, 2011.

The article below highlights the possible benefits of yoga in eating disorder treatment.

Elizabeth Pope was an 11-year-old living in Tokyo when she realized she had an eating disorder. Her symptoms included not just vomiting, but also going for periods without eating and restricting herself from certain foods and then bingeing on them.

But it wasn’t until she went through a traumatic divorce at the age of 26 that she began to “fix the ways that I abused my body.” For her, that meant getting into yoga.

The practice of yoga has become increasingly popular across all walks of life in the U.S. in the last decade. Pope’s own mother got interested in it by watching PBS programs on the subject, but it was only during her time of crisis that Elizabeth herself got into it. She says that yoga helped her to recognize she had a problem and to “begin to deal with it in increments.” And studies are showing that she is not alone; yoga has been shown to have tremendous potential for helping people who have issues with food.

According to the National Eating Disorders Association, as many as 10 million females and 1 to 2 million males in the U.S. are fighting an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. The condition affects people generally when they’re young, but depending on what they do to treat the problem, can go on for decades.

In the case of Joy Tapper, think many decades. The 70-year-old former Tampa Merrill Lynch adviser said she carried her bulimia with her from the time she was 15 up until a few months ago, when she began doing yoga for the first time, partly because she was bored.

She says yoga has been transformative, and that’s why she’s actively trying to get the word out about an event happening at Curtis Hixon Park on Sunday, April 10 at 6 p.m., when three local yoga studios are sponsoring an hour-long session specifically for those who suffer or have suffered from an eating disorder, and are willing to participate in yoga as a method of dealing with the problem. The event is also being promoted by the USF Hope House for Eating Disorders, located on quiet Cleveland Street in Hyde Park, just a few blocks away from the bustle of SoHo.

The House was established in 2007 by Pauline Powers, who also directs the USF Center for Eating and Weight Disorders. More recently, says Communications & Marketing Officer Diane Juranko, the Hope House has initiated an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) because “we learned that the patients are a little sicker than what was originally anticipated.”

The USF Hope House provides extensive outreach and supportive intervention groups at no cost. With eating disorders appearing in children as young as 10 or 11, Dr. Powers has also been giving a healthy body presentation to students at a private school in Tampa, and Hope House officials are scheduled to meet with Hillsborough County guidance counselors and psychologists about a potential partnership with the school district.

According to a recent study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, although most teens do seek mental health treatment to help contend with the issue, a more effective approach would be to educate them before they need the help.

“Prevention in any kind of health care situation is always the key,” says Juranko. “All of our advertisements and marketing people make the perfect female body skinny and everything. If we can just get the young girls to realize that that’s not real, that’s airbrushed — they tweak all of it, everything we see in the magazines and on TV — and just get them to understand, it’s okay to be yourself. And feel good about yourself in your own skin.”

But is yoga the answer?

There seems to growing empirical evidence that it can be.

A 2005 study from the Psychology of Women Quarterly says that people who practice yoga “reported less self-objectification, greater satisfaction with physical appearance, and fewer disordered eating attitudes compared to non-yoga practitioners.” The study also said that “yoga practice is associated with greater body awareness and responsiveness… which in turn are associated with lower levels of trait self-objectification, greater body satisfaction, and lesser disordered eating attitudes.”

Jennifer Daubenmier, an assistant professor with the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at University of California San Francisco, wrote the study. In an email, Daubenmier wrote that the current research on yoga as a treatment for eating disorders is “encouraging,” but she stresses that “rigorous studies… in controlled trials are needed to explore if yoga is really an effective treatment for eating disorders.”

Lisa Jamison is a physical trainer and strength and conditioning coach. She says her eating disorder manifested itself when she went away to college, where she strived not to gain “The Freshman 5” or “Freshman 15,” referring to added weight. She ended up losing so much weight that she started passing out in classes and had to leave school.

She said that years ago her friends considered her the “go-to” person on the subject of eating disorders because she talked about it so much, leading some to question whether she really suffered from the condition at all, due to the ingrained notion that sufferers can’t, and don’t, talk about what they’re going through. She says yoga is one factor that’s helped her deal with eating issues, allowing her to access a spiritual connection within herself.

Elizabeth Pope, who teaches yoga at the Happy Buddha YOGA Lounge in downtown Tampa, says that after the Day of Hope on April 10 she intends to host a short series of classes at Happy Buddha so there’s follow-up for people who attend the event, “and they know they can continue to talk about it.”

Meanwhile, officials from the USF Hope House for Eating Disorders will be traveling to Washington D.C. the following day to lobby members of Congress to support the Federal Response to Eliminate Eating Disorders (FREED) Act, sponsored by Senate Democrats Tom Harkin from Iowa, and Amy Klobuchar and Minnesota Al Franken from Minnesota.

The bill calls for improving the prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment of eating disorders, while also expanding federal research and improving the reporting and tracking of the number of American with such disorders.

Can yoga make a difference for people in the Tampa Bay area? “We all have different experiences,” says Joy Tapper, “but that doesn’t matter. What really matters is that we can give some kind of hope to people that, no, you don’t have to suffer for all those years; no, it doesn’t have to be in private; no, there are people who will help you and a place to go.”

Article retrieved from TheDailyLoaf.com

The article below discusses some general guideline on when and how to seek psychological treatment.

Written by Kalpana Asok

Tens of thousands of Americans seek out professional counseling and psychotherapy each year. Their reasons for doing so are as varied and unique as the individuals themselves. Some may be looking for help in their relationships, trying to cope with the loss of a loved one, or hoping to overcome recurring anxiety and stress, while others may be facing more serious issues such as eating disorders, bipolar disorder, or severe depression.

How do these individuals determine that they need professional assistance and, more importantly, how can you tell if you can benefit from the assistance of a professional psychotherapist?

Some individuals’ signs and symptoms are undoubtedly more obvious than others’. However, the decision to seek the help of a mental health professional all stem from asking yourself some important questions about how you feel in general and whether or not there are certain aspects of your life that continue to cause discomfort, uncertainty, or emotional pain.

The following are five particularly important considerations, if you’re trying to determine whether or not you may benefit from professional counseling or psychotherapy:

1. What is your overall mood on a day-to-day basis? — While we all have bad days, if it seems the majority of your days would be better off if you never got out of bed in the morning it is a sure sign that you can use some help. Anxiety, stress, and depression are all normal and even healthy emotions. But, when they become recurring and or overwhelming facets of our lives, they can cause us to lose the confidence and optimism that is so vital to experiencing a rich and fulfilling life. If severe or recurring anxiety, stress, or depression has led you to no longer take pleasure from the relationships and endeavors that used to bring you joy, professional counseling and therapy can help.

2. How often, and how greatly, do your moods change? — We all experience a variety of emotions each day as we’re confronted with an ever-changing world. Professional successes, meeting someone attractive of the opposite sex, and spending time devoted to things we’re passionate about can all lead to feelings of heightened joy and euphoria. Likewise, getting stuck in traffic, social rejection, or a monetary loss can leave us feeling frustrated, upset, angry, or depressed. However, if you regularly experience mood swings that don’t seem tied to specific causes, if your moods fluctuate from extreme highs to extreme lows with little middle ground in between, or if your mood swings are negatively impacting your personal and professional relationships, it is a sure sign you can benefit from assistance. A professional counselor or therapist can help you determine the severity of the mood swings you’re experiencing as well as their underlying causes, and help you restore balance to your life.

3. Is a particular relationship issue causing difficulties in other areas of your life? — The relationships we care most about have a great deal of influence on our day-to-day experiences. If your relationship with a spouse, child, or parent is severely strained over any period of time, the stress is likely to have negative consequences in other areas of your life. Working through ongoing difficulties in an effort to make your relationships with your loved ones the best they can be is reason enough to seek professional relationship or family counseling. However, if relationship difficulties are affecting your professional life, your interactions with friends or other family members, or your own happiness and self-esteem, it’s time to seek the help of a professional counselor or psychotherapist.

4. Have you recently experienced any sudden and/or dramatic life changes? — Major life transitions, such as a birth or death, adoption, marriage, and relocating, can all lead to more anxiety and stress than we know how to cope with effectively. While talking through these changes with friends and family members can be helpful, it is rarely an adequate replacement for the help provided by a mental health professional. Professional counseling and psychotherapy can help you uncover and resolve any underlying fears you have about the new situation at hand, as well as determine the best coping strategies so you can move forward with confidence and optimism.

5. Do you feel that the issues you’re facing a beyond hope? — No matter what problems we face, be they anxiety, stress, depression, relationship difficulties, grief, post-traumatic stress, or a myriad of other issues, if you’ve begun to lose any hope of overcoming the situation you’re facing or the emotional pain you’re dealing with, it’s time to seek professional assistance. Counseling and therapy can help you learn effective coping strategies, effect positive change, and restore hope and joy to your life.

Most emotional and relationship issues begin as relatively small issues. However, when left unaddressed, they tend to worsen without our awareness until they reach a point where they consume a great deal of our time, thought, and energy.

Regularly assessing your feelings about the various aspects of your life can help you prevent small issues from turning into overwhelming problems, as well as making sure you get the help you need sooner rather than later.

To learn more about psychotherapy, visit Kalpana Asok’s website on couples counseling in Los Altos.

Article retrieved on March 26, 2011 from TheBreakingStory.com.

The article below discusses the prevalence of other co-morbid disorders in teens with eating disorders.

By Carolyne Krupa, amednews staff. Posted March 22, 2011.

Eating disorders affect a small proportion of U.S. adolescents but can be devastating for those who are afflicted, a study shows.

The article below outlines eating disorder signs and symptoms that parents can look for.

Mar 14, 2011 – SEATTLE — A newly released U.S. government study on teens and eating disorders (EDs) shines a much-needed light on the urgent necessity for early education and intervention says the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA).

Released March 7 in the Archives of General Psychiatry – a monthly professional medical journal published by the American Medical Association – the study shows that more than half a million U.S. teens have had an eating disorder but the majority have not sought treatment for the problem.

Commented Lynn Grefe, president and CEO of NEDA, “The National Eating Disorders Association applauds the government for taking a first step in assessing the depth of this problem among our young people.  These are potentially deadly illnesses with the highest death rate of any mental illness. As a society, we must ask … When this many kids are clearly struggling with eating disorders, why are we not investing in more extensive research and early intervention now? What are we waiting for?”

The largest and most comprehensive analysis of EDs in the U.S. to date, the study included nationally representative data on 10,123 teens aged 13 to 18. Binge-eating was the most common disorder, affecting more than 1.6 percent of the teens studied; 0.9 percent suffer bulimia; and 0.3 percent anorexia. Overall, three percent had a lifetime prevalence of one of the disorders. Another three percent experienced troubling symptoms of disordered eating, but not full-fledged EDs. Ethnic minorities were more likely to report binge-eating disorder and white teens experience more anorexia than ethnic groups.

Additionally, more than half of the affected teens suffer depression, anxiety, social phobia or some other mental disorder, with a notable percent reporting suicidal thoughts or attempts—and all those affected are more likely to have problems with substance abuse.

Continued Grefe, “As noted by the researchers, we believe the actual occurrence in the teen population is even higher and, across all demographics, it seems to be epidemic.”

Among all Age Groups and Demographics: As many as 10 million females and 1 million males in the U.S. battle anorexia or bulimia. And as many as 13 million more struggle with binge eating disorder. Millions practice disordered eating due to an obsession with dieting. * According to more than 100 published studies, body dissatisfaction is a significant risk for physical and mental health disorders. Idealized media images and “body perfect” ideals directly increase body dissatisfaction and negatively impact well-being among women and men—but have a particularly negative effect on adolescent girls. * The peak onset of eating disorders occurs during puberty and the late teen/early adult years, but symptoms can occur as young as kindergarten. * 80% of all 10-year-olds are afraid of being fat. * Nearly half of all women across the country are dieting on any given day. The history of dieting (now a $40 billion-a-year industry) can be traced to the 1800s, kicking into high (and irreversible) gear in the ’50s. * There has been a rise in the incidence of anorexia in young women ages 15-19 in each decade since 1930. * Another recent study on eating disorder-related hospitalizations cites data showing a sharp increase from 1999 to 2006—Up 18% overall; 24% among the elderly; 37% among men; and 119% among children younger than 12 (though the age group accounts for less than 5% of overall cases). Total hospital stay costs increased 61%. * Over the course of one person’s lifetime, at least 50,000 individuals will die as a direct result of eating disorders. * According to the National Institute of Mental Health, eating disorders are serious illnesses with a biological basis modified and influenced by emotional and cultural factors. They are not lifestyle choices. * Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.

“As parents,” says Grefe, “we need to be aware of societal influences – like media and advertising – which promote unrealistic ‘ideal’ body images.  We need to start a dialogue and teach our children to focus on health, not the size of our hips, and to love and take care of the body they’re in. And we need to be able to recognize the symptoms, know where to go for help and to have increased access to medical treatment.”

10 Signs of an Eating Disorder:
1.    Drastic weight loss.
2.    Preoccupation with counting calories.
3.    The need to weigh yourself several times a day.
4.    Excessive exercise.
5.    Binge eating or purging.
6.    Food rituals, like taking tiny bites, skipping food groups or re-arranging food on the plate.
7.    Avoiding meals or only wanting to eat alone.
8.    Taking laxatives or diuretics.
9.    Smoking to curb appetite.
10.  Persistent view of yourself as fat that worsens despite weight loss.

The National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), headquartered in Seattle, Wash., is the leading U.S. non-profit organization supporting individuals and families affected by eating disorders. NEDA serves as a catalyst for prevention, cures and access to quality care. Each year, NEDA helps millions of people across the country find information and appropriate treatment resources through its toll-free, live helpline, its many outreach programs and website. NEDA advocates for advancements in the field and envisions a world without eating disorders. For more information, visit NationalEatingDisorders.org

For Treatment Referrals, Visit NationalEatingDisorders.org
Or Contact NEDA’s Live Helpline:  800-931-2237
Monday – Friday: 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (PST)
 

Article retrieved from PRLog online, March 14th, 2011.

The article below discusses the prevalence and presentation of eating disorders in children.

Eating disorders occur most often in young adolescents and teens; however, young children can develop eating disorders as well. Healthcare professionals are seeing a disturbing trend of children as young as age 5 developing eating disorders. While these eating disturbances often seem similar to theanorexia nervosa and bulimia, most commonly found in young teen girls, those occurring at a very young age often have other causes.

Types

Food Refusal

With this disorder, children use food refusal as a means of manipulation. The behavior is often erratic and inconsistent. While this tactic is certainly frustrating for parents, it is sometimes associated with a recent source of stress or sadness and is not usually thought of as a threat to health.

Restrictive Eating

With restrictive eating, very young children eat a variety of foods, but clearly restrict portions. The underlying causes of this disorder remain unclear and although children exhibiting restrictive eating habits may have low weight or growth for their age, they generally eat a balanced diet, albeit portion restricted, causing medical staff to consider them healthy in most cases. As with most eating disturbances in very young children, restrictive eating seems to have no basis in a preoccupation with body image and weight.

Selective Eating

Selective eating disorder syndrome can begin as early as infancy and can mimic the common picky eating habits of many infants and toddlers. Children exhibiting picky eating behavior usually overcome their aversion to other foods relatively quickly before any nutritional threat is imminent. Those with selective eating disorder only eat foods from very narrow categories, often those high in simple carbohydrates.

Recognizing the symptoms of selective eating and taking steps to mitigate negative nutritional and psychological consequences can stop the child from developing a full-blown disorder that threatens health and well-being. Children with true selective eating disorder have an aversion to certain food textures and smells. They associate the texture, odor, or both with a traumatic incident, which they now associate with food. When coaxed to try the food group associated with the event, they often gag, cough, or choke. This disorder is often associated with an underlying psychological condition involving anxiety or autism.

Food AvoidanceEmotional Disorder

Children can exhibit symptoms of food avoidance emotional disorder (FAED) very early in life. With this disorder, children can be as thin or thinner than those with untreated anorexia nervosa. The difference being that these children often feel shame at their thin bodies and know that their eating habits are irrational. Symptoms are closely related to obsessive-compulsive disorder. Many times, children with this disorder do not know exactly why they cannot overcome their eating issues, but desperately want to eat like their peers. They are often plagued with intense worry, sadness, and anxiety. Untreated, atypical eating disorders, such as FAED, can result in profound health and social issues for the child.

Causes

Eating disorders in very young children can often mirror those of adolescents and teens with anorexia nervosa or bulimia, but generally manifest themselves much differently in the mind of the child patient. Anorexics and bulimics usually have profound body image and self-esteem issues because of their emotional stresses. Very young children with eating disorders do not have body image concerns. They exhibit no fear of becoming overweight. These children often have a first or second degree relative with an eating disorder, which indicates a genetic factor in the disease. Many have anxiety disorders and fear of separation from their primary parent (usually their mother). Other contributing factors include perfectionism, inability to effectively cope with daily stresses, and depression marked by tearfulness.

Treatments

Eating disorders in pre-pubescent children are new to prominence in the medical community. Consequently, specific treatments have not been established, but possible treatment options can be administered by a pediatric physician or psychiatrist. Concerned parents can stay informed and involved by keeping regular appointments with their child’s pediatrician. Those who strongly suspect the onset of an eating disorder in their prepubescent child should bring the child in for evaluation by a pediatric psychiatrist. The psychiatric physician may prescribe medication to attenuate the underlying anxiety or obsessive-compulsive condition thought to cause the child difficulty. Both individual and family therapy may benefit the family unit and the child specifically.

Retrieved from MedCity News online, March 11, 2011.