News 16

Bulimia: Beat The Dark Deceiver
Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder where one binges with out-of-control fervor and purges through vomiting, laxatives or diuretics. Only after Jane Fonda shared her lifelong battle with bulimia -- and Karen Carpenter died as a result of her eating disorder -- did the world become more aware of the consequences of the illness.

Fretting About Fat!
Experts say more young children worried about weight, looks
One comes home and announces her intention to diet because "I'm getting fat!" Another wishes she wore a smaller clothing size. And yet another declares herself “ugly” after studying fans wearing hip-huggers and midriff tops at a concert. Such moments are hardly surprising in a world that many say is obsessed with weight and looks. But these comments come from children - girls ages 6, 8 and 5.

Computer program can help treat eating disorder
People with the eating disorder bulimia nervosa can get help to overcome their problem by using a computer program, British researchers said Friday. The program, which comes on a CD-ROM, might make it easier for people who are embarrassed about their condition to get the help they need. Many people with the disorder feel shame about their condition and often try to keep it secret, investigators note.

Laura was killed by anorexia. She was 80
Although anorexia nervosa is most commonly associated with teenage girls and young women, the latest research shows that it is as likely to occur in the elderly - and that eating disorders in the elderly are more deadly, accounting for 78% of all anorexia deaths. Psychologists at the University of British Columbia examined 10.5m death records, for a four-year period, in the US. They found that the average age of death from anorexia nervosa for women was 69 and for men 80. And while in younger cases anorexia victims are 90% female and 10% male, for those over 45, the percentage of men doubled to 21%.

Achieving Parity for Mental Health Treatment Hearing
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
Despite the fact that eating disorders are among the most lethal of all mental illnesses, I have heard stories from young people with anorexia who say that they have been sent home from the hospital despite because they have reached their maximum number of inpatient hospital days. The Eating Disorder Coalition for Research, Policy & Action reports that, although patients with eating disorders typically require 6 weeks of inpatient therapy, insurance companies offer an average of 10 –15 days.

The psychotherapy of a male anorectic.
The author describes the way in which a male anorexic patient came to beunderstood in once-weekly psychotherapy. The findings are similar to recent psychoanalytic ones about female anorectics, but add that he was preoccupied with display and that there was an erotised transference in the oral mode.

Big mystery: What causes addiction?
Eating disorders, which are considered addictions and primarily affect women, offer a clear illustration of the self-regulation mechanism gone haywire. If the inability to soothe oneself is due to a distant or rejecting parent, compulsive eating is an attempt to make up for the loss, to construct a substitute attachment to a nurturing parent, with a primitive form of self-medication — food — one of the few things (in addition to love) that can calm a distressed child.

Body dissatisfaction and irrational beliefs
Analysis showed no significant difference in body dissatisfaction between the Eating Disordered and High Body Dissatisfaction subgroups. ... The Eating Disordered subgroup but not the High Body Dissatisfaction subgroup differed significantly from the controls in terms of more Self-directed demands.

Inquest uncertainty over CJD death
"Her health was excellent until March 1993. She was always tall and slim but ate everything in sight, but she started losing weight and started to look anorexic. "She started falling, like you see cows with BSE staggering on television... "She couldn't understand and said "What's happening to me mum?"

Eating disorders in adolescents with type 1 diabetes
In adolescent females with diabetes, the increased focus on eating and the weight gain associated with good glycemic control likely increase their susceptibility to abnormal eating. It is clear that nonspecified and subthreshold eating disorders, and possibly bulimia and anorexia, are more common in this group of patients.

Central Trunk Adiposity Seen In Anorexic Women Who Gain Weight
Spontaneous weight gain in women with anorexia nervosa is associated with a significant increase in trunk adiposity. Use of estrogen may not protect anorexic women against accumulating central fat when they spontaneously gain weight say researchers.