Two different family-based therapies are both effective at combating anorexia nervosa in teenagers, according to the largest study ever to compare two such treatments for the life-threatening eating disorder. The findings add to a growing body of evidence supporting the value of parents’ involvement in anorexia treatment.
Category: eating disorders
The Innateness of Movement
I’ve been spending a lot of time with kids and babies these days, and one thing I’ve noticed is that little people love to move. Babies and toddlers like to wiggle and jump. Grade-school kids love to tumble and climb. They dance and scoot and swim and ride bikes. Left unattended, kids will naturally choose movement over stagnation on many occasions throughout the day. In fact, they’ll voluntarily run down the sidewalk if you let them. But most adults won’t.Many adults don’t like to move. We view exercise (even the word sounds challenging) as a chore. We set up contingencies around movement that render it a chore.Can you return to your innate love of movement? To the baby who jumped from the door frame
How the Asian Pop Culture Boom Is Feeding Eating Disorders
In our globalized world, the idea of the “western toxin effect” now seems quaint.
Bad Research
In May, The New York Times posted an article about a research study that found that it’s possible to lose 11 pounds in four days. I’m disappointed in The Times for featuring this study, and if you’re a budding researcher or at all interested in debunking weight-loss myths, follow along with me as to why.First, the study consisted of 15 participants, an embarrassingly low sample size. Let’s just say we can overlook that fact for a second. The article reports that the participants were “healthy but overweight Swedish men.” Ask yourself: “Am I a healthy but overweight Swedish man?” If not, the sample doesn’t represent you.You’ll also notice that the sample doesn’t represent women, Swedish men of different health- and weight- statuses, non-Swedish
Body Commodity
When did your body become anything other than a carrier for you?When did your body become something to. . .-think about-judge-criticize-dissect-change-punish-abuseWhen did your body become some thing?You can find Does Every Woman Have an Eating Disorder? Challenging Our Nation’s Fixation with Food and Weight on Amazon (as a paperback and Kindle) and at BarnesandNoble.com.
New estrogen-based compound suppresses binge-like eating behavior in female mice
The hormone estrogen can specifically trigger brain serotonin neurons to inhibit binge eating in female mice, researchers report. They add that this result is consistent with data in humans. “We can speculate that in women who develop binge eating who also happen to have irregular menstrual cycles, it is probably because their estrogen function is somehow damaged, which is what leads to the development of binge eating,” said the study’s lead author.
A Critical Analysis of "All About the Bass"
You might be wondering how Meghan Trainor’s “All About the Bass” fares on the body image front. Let’s take a critical look. Trainor’s catchy, end-of-summer anthem promotes body acceptance in a number of ways. Early on, she sings: “Yeah it’s pretty clear, I ain’t no size two/But I can shake it, shake it like I’m supposed to do.” While she might not embody America’s thin ideal, Trainor still moves and appreciates her body. She reiterates this point, noting that “You know I won’t be no stick-figure, silicone Barbie doll,/So, if that’s what’s you’re into/Then go ahead and move along.” Here, Trainor defies the internalization of unrealistic, reductive beauty standards and instead rejects those who demand her compliance with such
‘I don’t know how to get better’: Laia Abril shows the hell of eating disorders
The Spanish photographer’s sombre and affecting photobook The Epilogue tells the story of Cammy Robinson, who died at 26 as a result of bulimiaIn 2010, Laia Abril started a project on eating disorders with a multimedia piece called A Bad Day. It looked head-on at the daily life of a girl struggling with bulimia and was a wilfully uncomfortable experience. Out of that came a self-published ‘zine, Thinspiration, in which Abril documented the controversial Pro-Ana community which, in her words, "has turned anorexia (Ana) into its dogma" and where activists "venerate the illness giving meaning to their totalitarian ‘lifestyle’." Continue reading…
Patients with eating disorders have increased risk of autoimmune diseases
An association between eating disorders and several autoimmune diseases has been observed in people with different genetic backgrounds. These findings support the link between immune-mediated mechanisms and development of eating disorders.
Anorexia suicide: eating disorder clinic criticised over Alana Goldsmith death
Staff at NSW hospital did not notice 23-year-old was missing more than two hours after she walked out of centreIn a case he described as complex and harrowing, a New South Wales coroner has found mistakes and a lack of documentation by staff at the Wesley eating disorders centre did not cause the death of a 23-year-old woman receiving treatment there.In July 2011, Alana Goldsmith killed herself after walking out of the clinic at Wesley hospital in Ashfield. Staff did not realise she was missing for more than two hours, and she was found dead a short time later. Continue reading…