My last blog about the latest encouraging study of the Maudsley method as a treatment for anorexia brought forth a volley of comments. Some of those who wrote asked for more information about the risk factors that may contribute to eating disorders.
The first thing to keep in mind is that eating disorders do not have a single “cause.” Biology most definitely contributes. Researchers have found that genetics likely account for more than half of an individual’s vulnerability, but genetics alone don’t “cause” these disorders. Genes can be turned on, and they can be turned off, and the switch involves environment and experience. Environmental factors can include family and societal values, exposure to fashion magazines and billboards for supersized food, and attitudes of friends. Experiential risk factors can range from an extreme diet or schoolyard bullying or teasing, to a death or divorce in the family, emotional abuse, or other acute emotional distress.
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The signs and symptoms of eating disorders vary with the particular type of eating disorder.
Anorexia nervosa
When you have anorexia nervosa (an-o-REK-see-uh nur-VOH-suh), you’re obsessed with food and being thin, sometimes to the point of deadly self-starvation.
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While the connection between oral health and systemic health has been well-established, what most people don’t know is that dentists often are in a position to detect systemic conditions. According to an article published in the October 2010 issue of AGD Impact, the monthly newsmagazine of the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD), dentists may be the first health care providers to notice evidence of an eating disorder, such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and pica.
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The eating disorder anorexia strikes adolescent girls in disproportionate numbers. But boys get it too, and it kills about 10 percent of those who have it. So it may be surprising that there have been few evaluations of effective treatment.
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Results from a national survey conducted by the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), a follow-up to focus group information the association collected 6 years ago, show that public awareness of eating disorders (EDs) has increased dramatically.
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While “drunkorexia” is not a medical term, it has become easily understood slang for the practice of swapping food calories for those in alcohol.
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A treatment for major depression that uses intense magnetic pulses to stimulate the brain, previously shown to reduce acute symptoms for brief periods, appears to work over the longer term when teamed with antidepressants, researchers report.
“We wanted to address the question of whether the benefit of TMS [transcranial magnetic stimulation] can be sustained over a reasonable time,” said study leader Dr. Philip Janicak, a professor of psychiatry at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. “Based on this trial, the answer is yes.”
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When some Montreal researchers studied the effectiveness of omega-3 fatty acids in fighting depression, they found that it did seem to provide some relief, at least for those who did not also have an anxiety disorder.
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The presence of an eating disorder in teens has been linked to an alarming high rate of other self-harm tactics, such as cutting.
The findings of research conducted at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, the study also revealed that many healthcare providers regularly fail to diagnose instances of self injury.
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Bearing flickering candles in memory of lost daughters and sons, two hundred parents yesterday processed into Southwark Cathedral for the first memorial service of its kind. The children they have lost were not victims of war in Afghanistan, but of a battle against a different, but deadly, enemy. Theirs are the victims of eating disorders, the most lethal mental illness to strike young people.
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