Posts

May 17, 2013

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7:30 PM | LabBook May 17, 2013

Angelina Jolie, big data, hypertension and more in this week's LabBook.

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4:13 PM | Transitioning from Adolescent to Adult Eating Disorder Treatment Programs: What Are The Challenges?

Navigating health service systems can seem daunting, to say the least. Making phone calls, getting doctor appointments and referrals, attending intake appointments, and preparing oneself for treatment can be both mentally and physically draining. When children and adolescents develop eating disorders, their parents become the main navigators in this scenario, making decisions and arrangements for their under-18-year-olds. But what happens when these adolescents reach the age of 18, and still […]

May 14, 2013

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4:43 PM | Rethinking treatment goals improves results for those with persistent anorexia

A clinical trial for patients with anorexia nervosa shows that patients are three times more likely to stick with treatment when they are involved in setting its goals.

Touyz S, Le Grange D, Lacey H, Hay P, Smith R, Maguire S, Bamford B, Pike KM & Crosby RD (2013). Treating severe and enduring anorexia nervosa: a randomized controlled trial., Psychological medicine, 1-11. PMID: 23642330

Citation

May 13, 2013

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3:45 PM | The Troubling Way Men React To Sexual Harassment

Men are more likely than women to respond to sexual harassment with compensatory behaviors. That includes throwing up, taking laxatives and taking diuretics. Dreamstime This is the first study to find a link between harassment and disordered eating in men. When men and women get sexually harassed, they take it out on their bodies, according to a new study. And of the effects researchers looked for, the strongest wad in men, who were most likely to throw up or take laxatives in response to […]

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1:43 PM | Bingeing and Purging: Keeping the “Positives” and Eliminating The Negatives?

I have been fascinated and perplexed by reports of the seemingly invigorating and anxiety reducing effects of bingeing and purging (purging by self-induced vomiting). Personally, I cringe at the idea of self-induced vomiting and have always wanted to avoid vomiting at all costs, including during food poisoning. The insight from recent blog entries and the subsequent comments has made an impact on me. I see that the motivation to engage in bingeing/purging (b/p-ing) behavior can […]

May 09, 2013

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6:24 PM | Dancing Your Way to Recovery from Anorexia Nervosa

The idea of including dance and movement in interventions for eating disorders may seem somewhat controversial; generally, exercise and physical activity are discouraged for individuals recovering from eating disorders. Including dance in therapeutic interventions might raise a few eyebrows given the links between appearance-oriented athletic endeavors such as ballet and gymnastics and the development of eating disorders. However, some therapists and scholars interested in alternative therapies […]

May 06, 2013

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7:42 PM | International Conference on Eating Disorders (ICED) 2013: Personal Reflections

The 2013 International Conference on Eating Disorders (ICED) ended on May 4th. I thought I’d reflect on the experience (short version: it was awesome and I’m so glad I went!). Please note, the following is in no way comprehensive, representative, or scientific. There were a lot of overlapping events at the conference, which meant that I could only attend a fraction of the events. I highlighted in yellow the workshops/panels/presentations I attended. There are more details about the […]

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3:00 PM | ICYMI: April 28 – May 4 on the Skepchick Network

Teen Skepchick Eating Disorders Cross Culturally Olivia argues that we need more research into how eating disorders manifest across cultures. Speak Your Mind: Transitions How do you deal with transitioning from one phase of life to another? Why the Green Party Lost My Vote Their stance on alternative medicine lost the Green Party the cherished Eddy vote. Mad Art Lab Frolicking Frogs: Ballet Cosplay, Part 2 What do frogs and ballet have in common? (Hint: It involves boiling leotards.) Creative […]

May 03, 2013

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12:27 PM | Pills for Bites: The Alarming Link between Drug Abuse and Eating Disorders

The association between drug abuse and eating disorders (EDs) is not new. Since the 1970s, doctors have reported higher incidents of self-medication and drug abuse in a subset of eating disorder patients. Drugs, in this context, cover everything from laxatives and diet pills, to alcohol and street drugs. The association between drug use and EDs is not shocking; however, the extent of the problem is likely overlooked. In a report detailing the most comprehensive review on the topic, the National […]

April 29, 2013

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4:28 PM | Can We Stamp Out Thinspiration on Twitter? Torri Singer Thinks We Can

Pro-anorexia (or “pro-ana”) groups have been around online for over a decade, and we first discussed them here five years ago. More recently, with the rise of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, these groups have found a new life. Often associated with the label “thinspiration,” these groups elevate the idea of being [...]

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5:00 AM | You Really CAN Love Yourself

I know what you’re thinking. Or I should say, I know what you’re thinking if you’re anything like me. Ha. As if. Suuuuuure I can love myself. I can probably also cure cancer someday, IF I get a brain transplant and find half a million dollars and go back to school for a decade and [...]

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3:57 AM | Factors Associated with Recovery from Anorexia Nervosa

Why do some people recover anorexia nervosa relatively quickly while others seem to struggle for years or decades? Does it depend on the person’s desire to get better? Their willpower? How much they are willing to fight? Is it just that some try harder than others? Some might say yes, but most will correctly realize that the picture is much, much more complex. We can spend hours talking about barriers to treatment, but in this post I want to talk about something slightly different, […]

April 26, 2013

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3:18 PM | Patient Perspectives on Anorexia, Treatment, and Therapeutic Alliance

Dear Science of Eating Disorders readers, please welcome Andrea, our newest contributor! Below is her introduction and first post. Hello SEDs readers, my name is Andrea and I’m excited to be contributing to the blog. I have an undergraduate degree in sociology and I am currently a Masters student studying family relations and human development. My research is looking at the experiences of young women in recovery from eating disorders, and uses qualitative methods including narrative […]

April 25, 2013

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12:23 PM | 5 Ways to Help Your Kids Use Social Media Responsibly

“For most teens, the Internet is a fundamental part of life,” according to Dana Udall-Weiner, Ph.D, a psychologist who specializes in media literacy. It’s how they communicate and interact. Teens use social media sites like Facebook for everything from casual talks to breakups, she said. With social media a major part of teens’ lives, it’s [...]

April 22, 2013

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7:51 PM | Family-Based Treatment for Adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa: Hype or Hope?

When it comes to eating disorder treatment, few (if any) approaches are as divisive as Family-Based Treatment, also known as the Maudsley Method (I’ll use the terms interchangeably) . When I first heard about Maudsley, sometime during my mid-teens, I thought it was scaaary. But, as I’ve learned more about it, I began to realize it is not as scary as I originally thought. As a side-note: I know many people reading this post will know more about Maudsley than I ever […]

April 18, 2013

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3:00 PM | What Causes Eating Disorders – The Symptoms and the Types

Despite the general belief that body shape and weight are the main causes behind eating disorder, in reality, it isn’t. Though body shape and weight play a role in influencing eating disorder, there is no specific reason that can be singled out for eating disorder. We will try not to discuss what is an eating [...]

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2:18 PM | Nonpurging Bulimia Nervosa: Where Does It Fit?

When most people think of bulimia nervosa, they think of binge eating and self-induced vomiting. While that is not incorrect, it is not the full picture either. In the current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV), there are two subtypes of bulimia nervosa: purging (BN-P) and nonpurging (BN-NP). The difference lies in the types of compensation methods: patients with BN-P engage in self-induced vomiting, or the misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas whereas patients with […]

April 15, 2013

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4:27 AM | What’s The Point of Bingeing and Purging? And Why Can’t You Just Stop?

I defended my MSc on Tuesday and I’m not going to lie: I was pretty symptomatic with bulimia in the days prior to my defence. As I was explaining to my boyfriend, the anxiety-reducing effects of purging are so powerful, and the compulsion to binge and purge (when I’m stressed/anxious/”not okay”) is so strong that it is much easier to do it, get it over with, and continue working (in a much calmer state). I’ve mentioned before, for me, purging is very […]

April 10, 2013

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3:37 AM | Diabulimia: A Dangerous Duet

Type 1 diabetes (DMT1, or T1DM) is a lifelong disease often diagnosed in children or adolescents. Though causes of DMT1 are complex and not fully understood, it results from the body’s immune system destroying its own insulin-producing cells. This drastically lowers insulin levels and leads to high blood sugar (insulin is crucial for regulating blood sugar). If not managed properly, DMt1 can wreck havoc on the nerves, heart, and retina. The onset of DMT1 often results in dramatic weight […]

April 09, 2013

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5:00 PM | Google Searches For Mental Illnesses Increase During The Winter

Verschneite Landschaft Wikimedia Commons, TheNoOneA new study suggests seasonal changes have a much bigger impact on mental health than previously thought. Psychiatrists have known about seasonal affective disorder--a mood disorder in which otherwise healthy people experience depression during the winter or heightened anxiety during the summer--since the early 1980s. Treatment for the winter blues often involves light therapy, with the idea being that short, dark days are kind of depressing. […]

April 04, 2013

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8:47 PM | Binge Eating: When Should We Call It An “Addiction”?

Hello Science of Eating Disorders readers! This is a guest post by Liz. Liz is a PhD Candidate in Psychology at the University of Toronto. You can read more about her research, interests, and eating disorder history on her “About” page. And the usual “disclaimer”: Please keep in mind that I (Tetyana) give as much freedom as possible to guest writers and contributors to write about their own interests and viewpoints. That means that we don’t all necessary agree; there […]

April 01, 2013

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3:00 PM | ICYMI: March 24 – March 30 on the Skepchick Network

Put down that morning paper. There’s nothing you need to know in there. (Other than people from Cyprus are called Cypriots. Who knew?) Just snuggle down and catch up on what you missed last week on the Skepchick Network. Teen Skepchick A Whole-Brain Activity Map, and the Obama Administration The Obama Administration announced a plan to fund a huge effort to map the human brain. But it won’t solve all life’s mysteries. Eating Disorders: Fat Phobia Olivia argues that it’s […]

March 30, 2013

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1:38 PM | Eating Disorders in the Elderly

The first published case of a late-onset eating disorder (at the age of 40) was in 1930 by John M. Berkman. In 1936, John A. Ryle published a case study of an eating disorder in a 59-year-old woman. Just how common are eating disorders in late middle-age or elderly individuals? There aren’t a lot of studies on this topic, but the the above figures illustrate that there’s a significant minority of elderly individuals who struggle with eating disorders or disordered eating. What […]

March 28, 2013

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1:00 PM | You Were Born to Be You

This month’s edition of “Good News for Eating Disorders Recovery” has just been published. I wanted to share the inspiring message with you here as well – hope you enjoy it! “You Were Born to Be You” Each month I wait for new lessons. And each month I get the same lessons again. This (I [...]

March 25, 2013

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4:08 AM | Are There Any Meaningful Differences Between Subthreshold and Full Syndrome Anorexia Nervosa?

I see this on an daily basis: patients with subtreshold eating disorders feeling invalidated and “not sick enough.” They are struggling so much, but maybe they still have their periods, or maybe their weight isn’t quite low enough, and so they often (but not always, thankfully) get dismissed by doctors, other healthcare professionals, and insurance companies. Do you think you really need this treatment, maybe you can just focus on eating healthier? You know you are not fat, […]

March 21, 2013

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8:36 PM | Your Body’s Response to Chewing and Spitting: The Role of Insulin

In my previous post, I looked at two hormones released during the cephalic phase (gastric secretion that occurs before food is eaten), ghrelin and obestatin, and how they may contribute to runaway eating behavior. Today I’m going to be looking at insulin release during chew and spit (CHSP), a fairly common symptom in eating disorders where the food is tasted, chewed and spit out. Insulin is a small peptide hormone that acts as a key regulator of metabolism; deregulation of […]

March 19, 2013

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2:00 PM | Science Confirms The Obvious: Unhealthy Eating Makes Your Bad Mood Worse

Not Making You Feel Better Wikimedia Commons It turns out that women who feel bad about their bodies don't feel happier after they binge their way through an entire box of donuts. Who knew? As much as we all wish the answer to any problem could be "eat more junk food," powering through an entire pint of Ben & Jerry's when you're in a bad mood won't help you feel better, according to research from Penn State University. It'll probably make you feel worse, actually. Shocker. Researchers gave […]

March 18, 2013

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7:30 PM | Demystifying the Genetics of Eating Disorders – Part II

In my last post I talked about some methods that scientists use to study the genetics of eating disorders. I focused on a subfield of genetics called behavioural genetics (which you can think of as a field that attempts to understand, in part, the interplay of genetics and environment in behaviour). In this post I’ll shift gears and focus on molecular genetics. I’ll be working of the same review paper by Drs. Zerwas and Bulik (2011). Molecular geneticists study the structure […]

March 16, 2013

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1:50 AM | Demystifying the Genetics of Eating Disorders – Part I

Today I thought I’d take the time to do an overview of what researchers know about the genetics of eating disorders and try to clear up some common misconceptions. The bulk of the content in this blog post comes from a very nice review paper published in 2011 by Drs. Stephanie Zerwas and Cynthia Bulik on the genetics and epigenetics of eating disorders. In an effort to keep blog posts short, this will be a multi-part mini-series. When it comes to the genetics of eating disorders, there […]

March 13, 2013

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4:04 AM | Avoiding Refeeding Syndrome in Anorexia Nervosa

Refeeding syndrome (RS) is a rare but potentially fatal condition that can occur during refeeding of severely malnourished individuals (such as anorexia nervosa patients). After prolonged starvation, the body begins to use fat and protein to produce energy because there are not enough carbohydrates. Upon refeeding, there’s a surge of insulin (because of the ingested carbohydrates) and a sudden shift from fat to carbohydrate metabolism. This sudden shift can lead to a whole set of […]