Eating Disorders

If you suffer from an eating disorder, you are not alone. Since the 1970s, the number of people diagnosed with an eating disorder has increased dramatically. There is no longer the shame or stigma that was once attached to this often debilitating and serious disorder. If you suspect you may be suffering from an eating disorder, here is what you can expect in terms of screening and diagnosis.

When you first visit your doctor, he or she will first conduct a complete physical examination. Your doctor will ask you several questions regarding your medical history, your body image, and eating habits. The doctor will want to know whether you are participating in self-induced vomiting, whether you are using laxatives to facilitate weight loss, whether you are taking part in an obsessive exercise routine or diet, and how you perceive your body image. These symptoms, along with a full account of your eating habits, are necessary to make a positive diagnosis.
[Read more...]

More articles on eating disorder

Complications of Eating Disorders
Anorexia and bulimia are two eating disorders that can result in serious health complications. Along with the psychological and emotional distress that accompany eating disorders...

Four Therapy Treatments for Eating Disorders
As doctors and mental health professionals better understand eating disorders, more treatment options have become available for treating these sometimes life-threatening conditions.

Eating Disorders: Screening and Diagnosis
If you suffer from an eating disorder, you are not alone. Since the 1970s, the number of people diagnosed with an eating disorder has increased dramatically. There is no longer the shame or stigma...

Men and Eating Disorders
Most of us think of eating disorders as a condition that is more common among young women than any other part of the population. But men can also develop eating disorders; in fact, these types of conditions appear to be...

Seven Ways to Approach a Friend with Anorexia
If you suspect that a friend or loved one suffers from the eating disorder anorexia, can you do to help them? People who suffer from an eating disorder may feel defensive, depressed, or ashamed of their condition...

Signs of Anorexia
How do you know if your best friend, daughter, or another loved one is suffering from anorexia? Anorexia can sometimes be a difficult condition to spot because it is often accompanied by other symptoms.

Teenagers and Binge Eating Disorder
Binge eating is a little understood eating disorder that tends to affect younger people, including teenagers. This eating disorder can be understood in terms we are all probably familiar with.

The Three Types of Eating Disorders
Eating disorders can be described as any type of disorder that can be characterized as obsessive and long-term in nature and that is related to food or body image. Since the 1970s there has been a dramatic increase

Treatment for Eating Disorders
Eating disorders are serious health conditions that are characterized by an individual's unhealthy relationship to food and an obsession related to body image. Almost anyone can suffer from some kind of eating disorders...

What Causes Anorexia?
Anorexia is a complicated disorder that touches the lives of whole families. Anorexia nervosa is described as a disorder marked by obsession and a distorted body image. A person affected by anorexia has a great fear of...

Eating disorder news on the Web


Health insurance must cover eating disorders (The State Journal-Register)
Five years after learning that young athletes he was coaching had eating disorders, state Rep. Fred Crespo says he hopes a new law he helped pass makes it easier for families to get treatments for those disorders covered by health insurance.

Survey examines eating disorders (Nanaimo Daily News)
Nanaimo will take part in a national bulimia survey that will examine just how young children can be when they start binging and purging on food.

Brain Changes May Trigger Bulimia (Psych Central)
Women with bulimia nervosa appear to respond more impulsively during psychological testing than those without eating disorders and brain scans show differences in areas responsible for regulating behavior. Bulimia nervosa often begins in the adolescent or young adult years, according to background information in the article. “Primarily affecting girls and women, it is characterized [...]

Foundation to hold focus groups Jan. 25 and 31 (Midlothian Exchange)
The Northfield Foundation is recruiting participants for focus groups in January to help develop treatment programs. This non-profit ministry for girls who are struggling with eating disorders and/or facing unplanned pregnancies is looking to recruit:

Brains of Bulimia Patients Wired Differently (HealthDay via Yahoo! News)
TUESDAY, Jan. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Brain circuitry involved in regulating impulsive behavior seems to be less active in women suffering from the eating disorder known as bulimia nervosa.

Brain Circuit Abnormalities May Underlie Bulimia Nervosa in Women (Kansas City InfoZine)
Women with bulimia nervosa appear to respond more impulsively during psychological testing than those without eating disorders, and brain scans show differences in areas responsible for regulating behavior.

New laws emphasize public safety (Daily Chronicle)
Tougher drunken driving penalties, expanded health care coverage for eating disorders and the authority for firefighters to shut down roadways during accidents are just a few of the dozens of new laws that went into effect Thursday.

Brain circuit abnormalities may underlie bulimia nervosa in women (EurekAlert!)
( JAMA and Archives Journals ) Women with bulimia nervosa appear to respond more impulsively during psychological testing than those without eating disorders, and brain scans show differences in areas responsible for regulating behavior, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Brain abnormalities may signal bulimia risk (CTV.ca)
Psychological tests show that women with bulimia nervosa appear to act more impulsively than women who do not have eating disorders, suggests new research.

Walking to raise awareness (Western Advocate)
INSTEAD of spending her holidays curled up on the couch, university student Kendall Kirkwood will hike across NSW to raise awareness of anorexia. Starting in Bathurst today, the 21-year-old survivor of the insidious illness will walk 220 kilometres to Sydney over 10 days, ending at the Eating Disorders Foundation (EDF) office in Artarmon. She hopes to raise a much-needed $2000 for the ...