Eating Disorders Blog

According to a new study, bullying may be a significant factor in eating disorders. Beat, a charity that works with eating disorder sufferers in the United Kingdom, conducted the study.

Of the 600 young people with eating disorders who were surveyed, 91 percent reported being the victim of bullying, and 46 percent felt that it contributed to their development of an eating disorder. About half of the respondents reported being bullied for a period of two to five years, while 11 percent reported being bullied for six years or more.

Beat chief executive Susan Ringwood commented on the results of the study: "Bullying undermines young peoples' self-confidence and lowers their self-esteem, raising the risk of eating disorders. Eating disorders are complex with no single cause but bullying is a significant factor for too many people."

One 23-year-old man who responded to the survey recalled his experiences as a victim of bullying and, eventually, an eating disorder sufferer: "I only had one friend in high school, but even he bullied me when the others were around. A lot of my classmates didn't want to associate with me in case they got picked on too. As the bullying grew worse and more kids joined in, I would run out of lessons to escape the abuse.

"I hid in the boy's toilets where I knew I wouldn't be found. There I would comfort eat to ease the tension and anxiety that had built up inside me throughout the day and I began to make myself sick. Over time, it developed into bulimia and it took me many years to recover."

Beat is calling for additional research into the relationship between bullying and eating disorders. According to Beat, approximately 1.6 million people in the United Kingdom suffer from eating disorders.

(Source: www.communitynewswire.press.net)

Labels: bulimia, bullying

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Researchers at the Maudsley Hospital in London are exploring a theory that anorexia may not be a social or psychological phenomenon, but a genetic one. The London scientists have been studying autism and anorexia for several years, examining what the two disorders have in common. Although autism and anorexia appear very different on the surface - patients with autism struggle to connect with people in the outside world while anorexics are obsessed with other people's perceptions of them - the minds at Maudsley Hospital have identified some compelling similarities between the two conditions. For instance, both anorexics and autistic individuals exhibit obsessive behaviors and rigid thinking; tic disorders are fairly common among individuals in both populations; and both have trouble dealing with change. Researchers at Maudsley also found that 15 to 20 percent of anorexic patients may also have Asperger's syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder.

(Source: www.time.com)

Labels: eating disorder, anorexia, autism

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A new novel call Purge has been published by a Connecticut-based writer name Sarah Durer Littman. The novel, told in the first person in the format of a journal, is the story of Janie Ryan. Janie is a 16-year-old bulimic and the novel relates her experiences while receiving treatment at a fictional residential treatment facility called Golden Slopes. Janie's journal reveals the traumatic events that led to her development of an eating disorder, and how she developed bulimia as a sort of coping mechanism.

Littman comments about her novel's protagonist: "She is very much in denial of the disease and sort of has the attitude that this isn't a disease, it's a diet strategy. It's really about her growing realization and recognition of the fact that yes, she does have a condition that needs treatment and also her awareness of why she's doing what she's doing."

The novel is the product of Littman's real-life struggles with anorexia (as a teen) and bulimia (as an adult). The idea for the novel came to Littman while she was attending a writer's retreat in Vermont. In preparation for the novel, Ms. Littman asked her mother to send her some of her childhood pictures. She comments on looking at a picture of herself at age 15: "I looked at it, and I was like 'Wow, I actually had a pretty good figure,' but what made me really sad about the picture is that I remember how I felt at the time, which was fat and ugly."

Ms. Littman speaks about her motivation for the novel: "I want people to feel hopeful. I wanted to show them that they can overcome eating disorders, if they go through the proper therapy and build a support system. ... Hopefully the book will help to raise awareness and to generate a discussion about body image and eating disorders and the pressures on both young women and men."

(Source: stamfordtimes.com)

Labels: eating disorder, bulimia, books

Posted By: Jane St. Clair 1 Comment

Clinical psychologist Cynthia Bulik is the director of the Eating Disorders Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She recently released a new book, Crave, about binge eating and how to conquer food cravings.

"It is my mission to inform as many people as possible about the dangers of binge eating, to help those who already feel trapped to escape, and to prevent others from falling into the dangerous cycle of binge eating. Be it prevention or treatment, success is my ultimate goal."

During her studies at the University of California at Berkeley, Dr. Bulik noticed a consistent connection between eating disorders and depression. Her research has led her to develop tools aimed at helping patients curb their cravings, and she's seen excellent results. She calls her approach, which she explains in the book, as "down to earth, user friendly, and very practical." Source: Good Morning America

Labels: binge-eating, treatment, cravings

Posted By: Stefanie Hamilton 0 Comments

A globally significant study, which began in 1985, concerning the behavior of teenagers suffering from anorexia nervosa has been published in both the British Journal of Psychiatry and the International Journal of Eating Disorders. This is the only study of its kind and has provided valuable information to compare against widely accepted statistics about anorexia nervosa.

Elizabeth Wentz, Associate Professor in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Sahlgrenska Academy, comments, "This study is unique in an international perspective. It is the only study in the world that reflects the natural course of anorexia nervosa in the population."

The results show that 39 percent of the study group "have at least one other psychiatric disorder, in addition to the eating disorder. The most common of these is obsessive compulsive disorder." This study contrasts with the accepted fatality rate of 1 in 5 for anorexics, as not a single test subject in this study has died.

One encouraging finding that emerged from the study related to pregnancy of the test subjects. Because infertility is a commonly accepted side effect of anorexia nervosa, it is surprising that there was no difference in the number of births between the test group and the control group. Childbirth also appeared to have a routinely positive influence on anorexics.

(Source: www.eurekalert.org)

Labels: anorexia, mental-illness

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