Eating Disorders


Your Guide To
Eating Disorders







Kayla Gazdik, Meghan Gwilliam, Jennie Boyer, Hailey Nielson















Definition of Eating Disorders
Eating disorders are defined as extreme attitudes, emotions, and behaviors surrounding food and weight issues; illnesses that cause serious disturbances to your everyday diet, such as eating extremely small amounts of food or severely overeating; abnormal or disturbed eating habits.

The three most common eating disorders are: Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Binge-Eating Disorder.


Population:
The population affected by eating disorders is seen on a very wide range in gender, age and ethnicity.  The age of onset of an eating disorder can vary but for the most part, it appears very early in a persons life.  
Fact’s about Eating Disorder population :
      • 86% report onset before age of 20 years
      • 10% report onset at age 10 years or younger
      • 33% report onset between the ages of 11 and 15 years
      • 11 million Americans suffer from an eating disorder
      • Eating Disorders have doubled since 1960s
      • Anorexia Nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder, 20%.
http://eatingdisorderscoalition.org/documents/TalkingpointsEatingDisordersFactSheetUpdated5-20-09.pdf
Women:
As media has shown, women are more likely than males to develop an eating disorder. They are actually about 3 times more likely to develop anorexia and 75% more likely to develop a binge disorder than men. The mortality rate among people with anorexia is about 12 times higher than the annual death rate due to all causes of death among females ages 15-24 in the general population. Here are some more facts about eating disorders among women:
  • Among western women between 15 and 24 years old, approximately 1 out of every 200 suffers from anorexia nervosa, while about 1 in 50 is bulimic.
  • Between 10-50% of American college women report having binge eaten and then vomited to control their weight.
  • Approximately 40% of American girls ages 9 and 10 report being or having been on a diet to lose weight.
  • 50-60% of teenage American girls believe they are overweight, yet only 15 to 20 percent of them actually are overweight.
http://health.usnews.com/health-conditions/mental-health/eating-disorders

Males:
When hearing about eating disorders, a picture of a man usually does not come to mind, the truth is that eating disorders are prevalent in males as well. Even though the majority of people who suffer from eating disorders are women, a shocking number of men fall victim as well. Although there is so much pressure on women to look their best, men also have that pressure.  
According to a national survey, in a survey of 3000 adults, 25% of those who suffered from anorexia or bulimia were male. In binge eaters, 40% were male, which is a very different outlook compared to a study in the past that stated only 10% of eating disorders were experienced by males.  

Athletes:
Sports have many, many benefits, however, there are some severe psychological and physical stress that can create eating disorders in athletes.  When in situations of high competition and stress, the risks of eating disorders soar.  A comparison of the psychological profiles of athletes and those with anorexia found similar factors. They were perfectionism, high self-expectations, competitiveness, hyperactivity, repetitive exercise routine, compulsiveness drive, tendency toward depression, body image distortion, preoccupation with dieting and weight. As much as the general population concentrates on body image,weight and diet, athletes are almost tried to think about it all the time. This just increases their risk. Sports that focus on the individual score instead of a referee are 13% more likely to have an eating disorder. Endurance sports such as track and field, running and swimming all have increased chances of eating disorders.  All of these factors combined with social influence, performance anxiety and the individual athlete’s self-appraisal contribute to the athletes view on their body and their risk of suffering from an eating disorder.

Some statistics of eating disorders:
  • Learning new ways to have bad habits:
    • There has been a sharp increase in using the internet to learn how to become bulemc and anorexic. If you google “How to be Anorexic” you get millions of website all encouraging and teaching you how to develop an eating disorder.
  • Younger starting age:
    • As the years go by, the average beginning age for eating disorders become younger and younger. Children as young as 8 or 9 are now being diagnosed with eating disorders, low-self esteem and self-hate, stripping them of their childhood
Anorexia Nervosa

Defined as: A psychiatric disorder characterized by an unrealistic fear of weight gain, self-starvation, and conspicuous distortion of body image. The individual is obsessed with becoming increasingly thinner and limits food intake to the point where health is compromised. The disorder may be fatal.

Possible Causes and Factors that Lead to Anorexia
Hereditary: Studies have shown that siblings have a greater likelihood of developing the disorder if the other sibling has it, particularly in twins; having close relatives with anorexia, such as a mother or aunt, also increases the chance of developing it; however, compared to many other disorders, the inherited component appears to be fairly small.
Biological: There is evidence that anorexia is linked to abnormal neurotransmitter activity in parts of the brain that controls pleasure and appetite; tending to feel full sooner than other people
Psychological: Certain personality types appear more vulnerable to devloping anorexia. Anorectic people tend to be perfectionists who have unrealistic expectaions about how they “should” look and perform. They tend to have a black or white, right or wrong, all or nothing way of seeing things.
Social: Anorectics are more likely to come from either a overprotective family or disordered family where there is a lot of conflict and inconsistency. Either way, the anorectic feels a need to be in control of something, and that something becomes body weight. The family often has high, sometimes unrealistic, and rigid expectations. Often something stressful or upsetting triggers the start of anorexic behaviors. Life events such as moving, starting a new school, breaking up with a boyfriend, or even entering puberty and feeling awkward about one’s changing body can trigger anorexic behavior.

Symptoms
  • Dieting despite being thin – Following a severely restricted diet. Eating only certain low-calorie foods. Banning “bad” foods such as carbohydrates and fats.
  • Obsession with calories, fat grams, and nutrition – Reading food labels, measuring and weighing portions, keeping a food diary, reading diet books.
  • Pretending to eat or lying about eating – Hiding, playing with, or throwing away food to avoid eating. Making excuses to get out of meals (“I had a huge lunch” or “My stomach isn’t feeling good.”).
  • Preoccupation with food – Constantly thinking about food. Cooking for others, collecting recipes, reading food magazines, or making meal plans while eating very little.
  • Strange or secretive food rituals – Refusing to eat around others or in public places. Eating in rigid, ritualistic ways (e.g. cutting food “just so”, chewing food and spitting it out, using a specific plate).
  • Appearance and body image signs and symptoms
  • Dramatic weight loss – Rapid, drastic weight loss with no medical cause.
  • Feeling fat, despite being underweight – You may feel overweight in general or just “too fat” in certain places such as the stomach, hips, or thighs.
  • Fixation on body image – Obsessed with weight, body shape, or clothing size. Frequent weigh-ins and concern over tiny fluctuations in weight.
  • Harshly critical of appearance – Spending a lot of time in front of the mirror checking for flaws. There’s always something to criticize. You’re never thin enough.
  • Denial that you’re too thin – You may deny that your low body weight is a problem, while trying to conceal it (drinking a lot of water before being weighed, wearing baggy or oversized clothes).

Medical Consequences
  • Amenorrhea: Missing 3 or more periods
  • Sensitivity to cold temperatures
  • Lanugo: Soft, downy hair all over the body
  • Cardiovascular problems
  • Electrolyte imbalance
  • Severe mood swings; depression
  • Lack of energy and weakness
  • Slowed thinking; poor memory
  • Dry, yellowish skin and brittle nails
  • Constipation and bloating
  • Tooth decay and gum damage
  • Dizziness, fainting, and headaches


Diagnosis
  • Criteria:
  • Refusal to maintain a body weight that is at or above the minimum normal weight for your age and height
  • Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though you're underweight
  • Denying the seriousness of having a low body weight, or having a distorted image of your appearance or shape
  • In women who've started having periods, the absence of a period for at least three consecutive menstrual cycles
  • Physical exam, laboratory test, psychological evaluation, other studies such as x-rays and bone density testing.



Prognosis
Anorexia is among the psychiatric conditions that have the highest mortality rate, with an estimated 6% of anorexia victims dying from complications of the disease. The most common cause of death in people with anorexia are medical complications of the condition, including cardiac arrest and electrolyte imbalances. Suicide is also a cause of death in people with anorexia. In the absence of any coexisting personality disorder, younger individuals with anorexia tend to do better over time than their older counterparts.


The Difference Between Healthy Dieting and Anorexia
Healthy Dieting
Anorexia
Healthy dieting is an attempt to control weight.
Anorexia is an attempt to control your life and emotions.
Your self-esteem is based on more than just weight and body image.
Your self-esteem is based entirely on how much you weigh and how thin you are.
You view weight loss as a way to improve your health and appearance.
You view weight loss as a way to achieve happiness.





Bulimia Nervosa
Definition:
Bulimia Nervosa is an illness in which a person binges on food or has a regular episode of overeating and feels a loss of control. The person then uses different methods, like vomiting and abusing laxatives to prevent weight gain. The dangerous habit of binge eating and then inappropriate compensatory behavior is used to try to control one's weight. Taking ex-lax, inducing vomiting, or going exercising an unreasonable amount. Bulimia often occurs hand in hand with with other psychiatric disorders like depression, substance abuse or and other self-injurious behaviors.
Binge eating includes eating immense amounts of food in a short amount of time.  Unlike just plain overeating, a key characteristic of binge eating is the feeling out of control. This means the person cannot stop the urge to eat once it has started, and it is hard to stop. There are two types of bulimia nervosa. The purging type includes the person regularly engaging in self-induced vomiting or misuse of laxatives. The nonpurging type involves fasting or excessive exercise to control weight.
People with bulimia nervosa often feel a lack of control during eating and is ended when they feel abdominal discomfort, social interruption or even running out of food. To be diagnosed with bulimia nervosa, you must have had on average, a minimum of two binge-eating episodes a week for at least 3 months.  
Population:
The usual beginning of bulimia nervosa starts around late adolescence or early adulthood, but onset can and sometimes does occur at any time throughout ones life time. Bulimia nervosa, like anorexia, mainly affects females. 10-15% of affected individuals are male although this may be grossly understated. Bulimia nervosa is found more common in young women than anorexia.  Studies also indicate that 50% of those who have had, or have anorexia nervosa will have bulimia nervosa later on in life.

Diagnosis:
Key Characteristics:
  • Recurrent episodes of binge eating, characterized by eating larger than normal amounts of food for the average person
  • Lack of control during the binge eating episode
  • Inappropriate compensatory behavior to prevent weight gain from binge eating episode such as inducing vomiting, misuse of laxatives, enemas etc, over exercising.
  • dissatisfaction with body shape and or weight
Symptoms:
  • Visiting the bathroom after every meal; to induce vomiting, bathroom or person may also smell of vomit afterwards
  • Secrecy surrounding eating; going to the kitchen after everyone has gone to bed, going out alone to eat, not eating in public.
  • Physical signs; discolored teeth, puffy “chipmunk” cheeks, calluses or scars on knuckles or hands
  • Excessive preoccupation with their body image and weight
  • Excessive exercising


Binge Eating
Definition
Binge eating is characterized by eating an excessive amount of food within a discrete period of time and by a sense of lack of control over eating during the episode. On average, binge eating occurs at least two days a week for six months.
**The difference between Bulimia Nervosa and Binge-eating Disorder is that people with Bulimia-Nervosa purge their bodies of the excess calories.

Population
Surveys have estimated that 2-5% of Americans have binge-eating disorder in a 6-month period. Women are more likely than men to binge-eat, but men also experience this disorder. The average age of onset in 25. People ages 18-19, 30-44, and 50-59 were all significantly more likely that 60 year olds and older to participate in binge-eating.

Symptoms
Binge-eating occurs in episodes. An episode is characterized by:
  • Eating a larger amount of food than normal during a short period of time (any two hour period)
  • Lack of control over eating during the binge episode (feeling that you cannot stop eating)

Binge eating episodes are associated with three or more of the following:
  • Eating until feeling uncomfortably full
  • Eating large amounts of food when not physically hungry
  • Eating much more rapidly than normal
  • Eating alone because you are embarrassed by how much you are eating
  • Feeling disgusted, depressed, or guilty after eating
For many binge-eaters, they feel depressed after eating, which then leads them to eat to be consoled, and this leads to a downward cycle of binging and feeling depressed.

Causes
Generally, it takes a combination of things to develop binge eating disorder — including a person's genes, emotions, and experience.

Biological Causes

Biological abnormalities can contribute to binge eating. For example, the hypothalamus (the part of the brain that controls appetite) may not be sending correct messages about hunger and fullness. Researchers have also found a genetic mutation that appears to cause food addiction. Finally, there is evidence that low levels of the brain chemical serotonin play a role in compulsive eating.

Social and cultural causes

Social pressure to be thin can add to the shame binge eaters feel and fuel their emotional eating. Some parents unwittingly set the stage for binge eating by using food to comfort, dismiss, or reward their children. Children who are exposed to frequent critical comments about their bodies and weight are also vulnerable, as are those who have been sexually abused in childhood.

Psychological causes

Depression and binge eating are strongly linked. Many binge eaters are either depressed or have been before; others may have trouble with impulse control and managing and expressing their feelings. Low self-esteem, loneliness, and body dissatisfaction may also contribute to binge eating.



Eating Disorders of Males
More men are suffering from eating disorders than previously thought. Out of 3,000 people with anorexia and bulimia, 25 percent were men (and 40 percent had binge eating disorder), according to a Harvard study.

Though some men do exhibit a fear of fat, others typically want to be muscular (particularly their chest and arms), obsess over attaining a low body fat percentage and focus their efforts on excelling at a sport (which prompts some to abuse steroids and exercise excessively).
Instead of engaging in traditional compensatory behaviors like vomiting or abusing laxatives, men instead are more likely to exercise compulsively (as cited in Weltzin, Weisensel, Franczyk, Burnett, Klitz & Bean, 2005).

What distinguishes men with eating disorders from their female counterparts?
  • Symptoms: The diagnostic criteria for anorexia, for instance, focus on women, which is evident in its hallmark symptoms of amenorrhea (the absence of menstruation) and fear of fatness. Though some men do exhibit a fear of fat, others typically want to be muscular (particularly their chest and arms), obsess over attaining a low body fat percentage and focus their efforts on excelling at a sport (which prompts some to abuse steroids and exercise excessively).
  • Images and ideals: For decades, women have been inundated with unrealistic, thin images in magazines, movies, ads and other media outlets. And now, men are also feeling the pressure for physical perfection, surrounded by unattainable images of muscular physiques, six-pack abs, bulging biceps and lean bodies.
  • Dieting: Men might diet for different reasons than women, including to:
    • Prevent weight gain (many eating disordered men were overweight as kids).
    • Excel in sports
    • Avoid health complications
    • Improve appearance after childhood teasing.

Ways To Help with Body Image and Eating Problems in Men

If your loved one is struggling with an eating disorder, the following are ways in which you can offer support to the male in your life:
  1. Help boys understand that to fit in they don’t have to be muscle-bound and super-athletes. Boys need the same help as girls fitting comfortably into their genes.
  2. Boys need help with the grow-up-fast mentality pedaled by our media. Tell them there is no rush.
  3. Help boys understand there is no need to hyper-control their body. Both boys and girls need to undo mistaken notion that the body can be shaped and molded, at will, to fit a cookie-cutter image of the perfect body.
  4. Help boys understand their locus of control needs to be more on the inside, not on the outside, when it comes to understanding what is valuable about themselves.
  5. Help your son with an eating disorder develop age-appropriate autonomy, even if he is dependent on you for guidance around eating and exercise. Help him transition from boyhood to adulthood by encouraging age-appropriate responsibilities and social behaviors. This helps support developing manhood and increasing responsibility in ways that are not focused on looks.
  6. Help boys understand that most kinds of power do not come with big muscles and a “might makes right” attitude.
  7. Help boys find relief from agonizing over their appearance around puberty by helping them accept their bodies as they are. Help them focus on developing other aspects of who they are, other than their looks.
  8. If your son is seeking refuge in anorectic regression to pre-puberty, help him get to professional assistance. Do your best to support a dialog about what is fueling his maturity fears. Sometimes just making time to do activities together provides the best opportunity for dialog and exchange.







Medical Complications Due to Eating Disorders

Not only do eating disorders have a destructive effect on emotional aspects of a person’s health, but they are devastating to the body in many ways. Here are medical effects of eating disorders on the body based on each specific disorder.

Anorexia Nervosa
  • Amenorrhea (missing 3 or more periods)
  • Dry skin
  • Brittle hair and nails
  • Sensitivity to cold temperatures
  • Lanugo (soft, downy hair all over the body)
  • Cardiovascular problems
  • Electrolyte imbalance

Bulimia Nervosa
  • Salivary gland enlargement
  • Erosion of dental enamel (from stomach acid)
  • Electrolyte imbalance
  • Kidney failure
  • Cardiac arrhythmia
  • Seizures
  • Intestinal problems
  • Permanent colon damage

Binge Eating Disorder
  • Obesity
  • Diabetes
  • High blood pressure
  • High cholesterol
  • Kidney disease and/or failure
  • Gallbladder disease
  • Arthritis
  • Bone deterioration
  • Stroke
  • Upper respiratory problems
  • Skin disorders
  • Menstrual irregularities
  • Ovarian abnormalities
  • Complications with pregnancy


Treatment and Prevention
Treatment
Adequate nutrition, reducing excessive exercise, and stopping purging behaviors are the foundations of treatment. Specific forms of psychotherapy, or talk therapy, and medication are effective for many eating disorders. However, in more chronic cases, specific treatments have not yet been identified. Treatment plans often are tailored to individual needs and may include one or more of the following:
  • Individual, group, and/or family psychotherapy
  • Medical care and monitoring
  • Nutritional counseling
  • Medications.
Some patients may also need to be hospitalized to treat problems caused by mal-nutrition or to ensure they eat enough if they are very underweight.

Treating Anorexia Nervosa

Treating anorexia nervosa involves three components:
  • Restoring the person to a healthy weight
  • Treating the psychological issues related to the eating disorder
  • Reducing or eliminating behaviors or thoughts that lead to insufficient eating and preventing relapse.
Some research suggests that the use of medications, such as antidepressants, antipsychotics, or mood stabilizers, may be modestly effective in treating patients with anorexia nervosa. These medications may help resolve mood and anxiety symptoms that often occur along with anorexia nervosa. It is not clear whether antidepressants can prevent some weight-restored patients with anorexia nervosa from relapsing.  Although research is still ongoing, no medication yet has shown to be effective in helping someone gain weight to reach a normal level.

Different forms of psychotherapy, including individual, group, and family-based, can help address the psychological reasons for the illness. In a therapy called the Maudsley approach, parents of adolescents with anorexia nervosa assume responsibility for feeding their child. This approach appears to be very effective in helping people gain weight and improve eating habits and moods. Shown to be effective in case studies and clinical trials, the Maudsley approach is discussed in some guidelines and studies for treating eating disorders in younger, nonchronic patients.

Other research has found that a combined approach of medical attention and supportive psychotherapy designed specifically for anorexia nervosa patients is more effective than psychotherapy alone.  The effectiveness of a treatment depends on the person involved and his or her situation. Unfortunately, no specific psychotherapy appears to be consistently effective for treating adults with anorexia nervosa.  However, research into new treatment and prevention approaches is showing some promise. One study suggests that an online intervention program may prevent some at-risk women from developing an eating disorder. Also, specialized treatment of anorexia nervosa may help reduce the risk of death.

Treating Bulimia Nervosa

As with anorexia nervosa, treatment for bulimia nervosa often involves a combination of options and depends upon the needs of the individual. To reduce or eliminate binge-eating and purging behaviors, a patient may undergo nutritional counseling and psychotherapy, especially cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), or be prescribed medication. CBT helps a person focus on his or her current problems and how to solve them. The therapist helps the patient learn how to identify distorted or unhelpful thinking patterns, recognize, and change inaccurate beliefs, relate to others in more positive ways, and change behaviors accordingly.

CBT that is tailored to treat bulimia nervosa is effective in changing binge-eating and purging behaviors and eating attitudes. Therapy may be individual or group-based.
Some antidepressants, such as fluoxetine (Prozac), which is the only medication approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating bulimia nervosa, may help patients who also have depression or anxiety. Fluoxetine also appears to help reduce binge-eating and purging behaviors, reduce the chance of relapse, and improve eating attitudes.

Treating Binge-eating Disorder

Treatment options for binge-eating disorder are similar to those used to treat bulimia nervosa. Psychotherapy, especially CBT that is tailored to the individual, has been shown to be effective.23 Again, this type of therapy can be offered in an individual or group environment.
Fluoxetine and other antidepressants may reduce binge-eating episodes and help lessen depression in some patients.


Treatment Centers
Treatment centers are facilities where people with eating disorders can go to get help for their disorder. Eating disorder treatment can take many forms, including independent programs for treating eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, outpatient eating disorder treatment programs, and inpatient or residential eating disorder programs. Whereas with an outpatient program the patient would see a therapist for an appointment and then leave, inpatient or residential programs involve staying at an eating disorder clinic or facility for an extended period of time--either days, weeks, months, or years.

Treatment centers range from client resident to a few days, or years. While living in the treatment center, clients undergo counseling, psychotherapy, group therapy, talk therapy, and recreation therapy. They learn to deal with their disorder by talking to others with the same problem, learning other ways of coping with other issues in their lives, and building the confidence they need to help them live a happy and healthy lifestyle.


Prevention
Here are some tips to prevent Eating disorders by Michael Levine, PhD.
  • Consider your thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors toward your own body and the way that these beliefs have been shaped by the forces of weight issues and sexism. Educate your children about the genetic basis for the natural diversity of human body shapes and sizes; and the nature and ugliness of prejudice.
  • Examine closely your dreams and goals for your children and other loved ones. Do not overemphasize beauty and body shape, particularly for girls. Avoid conveying an attitude which implies that you will like a person more in they are more fit or slender. Make an effort to reduce the teasing, criticism, blaming, staring, etc. that reinforce the idea that larger or fatter is “bad” and smaller or thinner is “good.”
  • Learn about and discuss the dangers of trying to alter one’s body shape through dieting, the value of moderate exercise for health, and the importance of eating a variety of foods in well-balanced meals consumed three times a day.
  • Make a commitment not to avoid activities (swimming, sunbathing, dancing, etc.) simply because they call attention to your weight and shape. Refuse to wear clothes that are uncomfortable that you don’t like simply because they divert attention from your weight or shape.
  • Make a commitment to exercise for the joy of feeling your body move and grow stronger, not to purge fat from your body or to compensate for calories, power, excitement, popularity, or perfection.
  • Practice taking people seriously for what they say, feel, and do, not for how slender or “well put together” they appear.
  • Help children appreciate and resist the ways in which television, magazines, and other media distort the true diversity of human body types and imply that a slender body means power, excitement, popularity, or perfection.
  • Educate boys and girl about various forms of prejudice, including weight prejudices, and help them understand their responsibilities for preventing them.
  • Encourage children to be active and to enjoy what their bodies can do and feel like. Do not limit their caloric intake unless a physician requests that you do this.
  • Do whatever you can to promote the self-esteem and self-respect of all children in intellectual, athletic, and social endeavors. Give boys and girls the same opportunities and encouragement. Be careful not to suggest that females are less important than males, e.g., by exempting males from housework or childcare. A well-rounded sense of self and solid self-esteem are perhaps the best antidotes to dieting and disordered eating.




TR Implications
Therapeutic recreation involves treatment people with eating disorders using recreation, leisure counseling, and experiential therapy. This form of treatment allows patients to participate in recreation, experience leisure, and have experiences that involve communication, teamwork, and challenges. These experiences allow growth in confidence, love for others, communication, learning to work as a team, and having a better perception of oneself. This process improves the quality of life of the patients and helps them to become healthier and happier.

An specific example of a center that uses recreational therapy with patients with eating disorders is the Center for Change in Orem, Utah. Center for Change uses complementary therapy methods to help the “whole person” through the healing process. This mulimodal approach ensures a comprehensive and individualized experience which builds self-esteem and confidence, and increases long term recovery success.

The Center’s Recreation Therapy program includes recreation, leisure counseling, and experiential therapy. The program features experiential interventions which include activities and challenges to help facilitate client changes in attitude, behaviors, and self-esteem. Structured recreation therapy sessions are held 3-4 times per week and include volunteer service, leisure building and educational outings. The program also includes sand tray therapy, ropes challenges courses, and equine therapy. Through involvement in these activities, clients develop social skills and experience self-discovery, self acceptance, and spiritual well-being.


Resources
Local Resources

BYU Counseling and Psychological Services
1500 Wilkinson Center
801-422-3035
Individual and group therapy specific to eating disorders are provided by mental health professionals free of cost.

BYU Women’s Services and Resources
3326 Wilkinson Center
901-422-4877
Peer and professional support provided specifically for issues dealt with women at BYU

Center for Change
1790 North State Street Orem, UT
801-224-8255
Residential treatment center for patients with eating disorders

Avalon Hills
Adolescent Center- Petersboro, UT
Adult Center- Paradise, UT
1-800-330-0490
Residential treatment center for adults and adolescents with eating disorders and co morbid mental disorders (depression, anxiety, trauma, personality disorders).

National and International
http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/ National Eating Disorder Association
http://www.eating-disorder.com/ Eating Disorder Treatment Finder
http://www.anad.org National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders
http://www.iedinstitute.com/ International Eating Disorder Institute

“Eating Disorders.” American Psychological Association. January 8, 2009. http://www.apa.org/topics/topiceating.html












Fact vs Fiction:

  • FICTION: Teenage girls are the only ones to get eating disorders.
    • FACT, many eating disorders start in adolescence but children, men, women and others all suffer from eating disorders

  • FICTION: You can’t recover from eating disorders.
    • FACT: Although recovery may be long, it is totally possible!

  • FICTION: Bulimics always throw up.
    • FACT: Not all bulimics try to lose weight through purging, many take laxatives, excessive exercise and fast.

  • FICTION: People can only “do” one eating disorder at a time
    • FACT:  Many people suffer from more than one eating disorder at one time

  • FICTION: Because people with eating disorders tend to be secretive, it’s a hard desise to help people get over.
    • FACT: Although people are usually secretive about eating disorders, there are clear signs that can help you realize a friend or loved one is suffering from an eating disorder. Helping them is the next step.


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