According to the Sunday Mirror,via ProQuest Information and PsychPort.com, SOARING numbers of young girls in Great Britain are being treated in hospital for eating disorders. The report claims that cases of bulimia and anorexia among girls under 18 have leaped by 47 percent in the U.K. from 562 in 2004 to 825 last year. Especially alarming is the data that shows there has also been a 25 per cent rise…

Psychotherapy has as at its roots a basic premise that one’s personality, behaviors, and character traits are malleable, rather than fixed. Certainly, treatment of eating disorders champions the notion that behavior can be changed, that new habits and patterns can be formed. Turns out, we are on the right track. Recent research indicates that positive change in character traits and personality can occur even into old age, and that the…

I was reading a popular magazine this week, which contains an interview with a notable celebrity talking about the weight gain she experienced over the course of time, and which apparently left her 60 pounds heavier than she used to be. What struck me about her comments and her experience is that she called her weight gain “humiliating”. Humiliating. It seemed like a word steeped in shame and guilt. And…

This post was something that I wrote originally for Encyclopedia Britannica Online, however, I thought it might be useful for my Blog readers as well since I received a great many e-mails and responses about my last post about food and diet myths. This information is also derived from my new book 100 Questions and Answers about Anorexia Nervosa. Myth #1: The leaner you are, the better athlete you will…

What do these people have in common? Paula Abdul, Scarlett Pomers, Meredith Vieira, Ashlee Simpson, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Christina Ricci, Mary-Kate Olsen, Alanis Morissette, Katherine McPhee, Elton John, Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thorton, Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Kate Beckinsale, Justine Bateman, Victoria Beckham, Calista Flockhart: They have all publicly admitted to battling an eating disorder. “Why should we care about that?”, you may ask. You may not, but many of your…

Many of our patients and clients will come to us with unusual beliefs about food. Some of their beliefs may be based on popular “myths” about food. Yet, therapists and other non-dietitian healthcare professionals may hold some of the very same food and diet beliefs that our clients do. Take a look at the list below and see if you may hold some beliefs about food that are actually food…

I’d like to share with you a very helpful handout, written by my friend Michael Levine, Ph.D. and his colleague Linda Smolak, Ph.D. 10 “Willpowers” for improving body image. Click here to read these body image boosters…and then pass them along to clients, patients, and/or loved-ones!

More Americans Being Hospitalized Because Of Eating Disorders… The number of men and women hospitalized due to eating disorders that caused anemia, kidney failure, erratic heart rhythms or other problems rose 18 percent between 1999 and 2006, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The federal agency’s analysis also found that between 1999 and 2006: * Hospitalizations for eating disorders rose most…

In the beginning stages of Maudsley therapy, parents take an active role in the re-feeding of their child, sometimes at the boisterous and adamant opposition of the child. Yet it is a necessary step toward their child’s recovery, re-feeding by parents who just want their eating disordered children to live, and to live free of an eating disorder. Sadly, parents have sometimes been cast as the “bad guys” for “policing”…

Many of you may be familiar with the concept of Body Mass Index (BMI), however, I occasionally receive questions about its utility and role in determining level of care. So…here are the basics about BMI… As you may know, body mass index (BMI) is a calculation of the ratio between a person’s weight and height. Although it is often used by healthcare professionals as an indicator of total body fat,…