Tag Archives: anorexia

Social Media Promoting Eating Disorders

Social media can be a dangerous place for people suffering from eating disorders or in danger of developing an eating disorder. One of the most appealing features of social media is that we can find communities of people we would likely never encounter in person who share our interests and values. However, this can sometimes […]

Social Media’s Potential Influence on Eating Disorders

Just when you’d grown weary of hearing about everyone’s “thigh gap” obsession, there’s a new body trend causing anxiety for young women. It’s cleverly labeled the “bikini bridge”. The term describes the look created when a woman lies down and her bikini bottoms hang suspended between her hip bones, showing off her enviably flat – […]

Do I Have an Eating Disorder? Take New Online Test

New online screening test for eating disorders debuts. As part of the national Eating Disorder Awareness Week of 2014, which lasted from Feb. 23 to March 1, the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) and Screening for Mental Health together launched a new online screening test. The test is free and anonymous, and helps users determine […]

High Cholesterol in Anorexics

Anorexia nervosa is the classic eating disorder associated with a distorted sense of one’s own body weight and body shape, as well as a dangerous associated drop in weight levels. Doctors have known for some time that people affected by anorexia often have unusually high levels of cholesterol in their bloodstreams, even though they heavily […]

Past Weight Loss an Overlooked Factor in Disordered Eating

Researchers who study anorexia nervosa and other eating disorders commonly focus their attention on psychological aspects of these illnesses, including  one’s thought processes, belief structures and emotional changes. This focus makes sense, since these factors heavily determine the development of disordered eating behaviors. However, according to the results of a study published in August 2013 […]

Many Teens Develop First Signs of Anorexia While Obese

Anorexia nervosa is an unusually deadly mental disorder centered on a fixation with thinness and weight loss. Current guidelines allow doctors to diagnose the disorder in individuals whose body weight falls below 85 percent of expected norms. However, according to the results of a new report published in September 2013 in the American Academy of […]

Eating Disorders Part 2 – Residential or Day Treatment?

If you or someone you love is struggling with an eating disorder – or symptoms that strongly suggest you may have one – treatment is crucial to your health and well-being.  In severe cases, it may even save your life. In Part 1, the initial steps toward getting help were discussed.  This second part covers […]

Self-Help Tips for Women With Eating Disorders

While eating disorders impact both men and women, women tend to suffer from them to a much greater degree.  This may be largely due to society’s relentless pressure on females to be supermodel thin and cellulite-free.  Sadly, it’s the exception not the rule to fit such unrealistic and unhealthy standards, yet many females strive to […]

Estrogen Replacement Therapy Reduces Anxiety in Anorexics

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by such things as a severely distorted body image, a dysfunctional obsession with staying thin, and excessive restrictions on food and calorie intake. Teenagers and adults recovering from the disorder often experience a spike in their levels of anxiety that coincide with a healthy increase in their body […]

Recovering From Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS)

Eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS) is a term used by the American Psychiatric Association to describe dangerous or medically counterproductive eating behaviors that don’t match the official definitions established for the disorders anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Over 50 percent of all Americans with an eating disorder have some form of EDNOS, and the […]

Male Anorexia and Gender Bias

Though predominantly a female problem, anorexia nervosa is not exclusively a female one because men do suffer from the condition as well. Yet, some wonder if there are subtle gender biases which prevent the condition from being recognized in men. Further, the public image of the condition as an overwhelmingly female problem may prevent men […]

Anorexia May Provide Sense of Belonging

Anorexia nervosa often ensnares women into a pattern of recovery and relapse, making it difficult for individuals suffering from the eating disorder to maintain healthy eating habits after completing treatment. Anorexia is the most deadly of the various types of eating disorders and has the highest mortality rate of any mental disorder, including depression and […]

The Rise of Manorexia

When you think of eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia, you usually think of women who are obsessed with their weight and image. Today, anorexia is taking on a new face and is now common in men. Sometimes called “manorexia,” eating disorders are causing men across the globe to become absorbed in their image […]

Women with Anorexia Nervosa More Likely to Have Unwanted Pregnancies

A new study has found that women with anorexia nervosa are more likely to have unplanned pregnancies and induced abortions than women who don’t have the eating disorder. The results suggest that this could be partly due to the fact that many women with anorexia mistakenly believe that they can’t get pregnant because they may […]

Who’s to Blame for Anorexia?

Painfully thin, emaciated, starving – these words come to mind when looking at photographs of malnourished children in third-world countries. But they’re not the only ones suffering – and they’re not suffering by choice. Anorexia, or specifically, anorexia nervosa, a mental disorder manifesting itself as an eating disorder, involves deliberate choice to avoid food, an […]

New Insights into Anorexia Discovered

Science Daily reports that new technology provides insights into brain abnormalities in patients with anorexia nervosa that may contribute to the symptoms found in people with the disorder. Walter Kaye, MD, professor of psychiatry and director of the Eating Disorders Program at the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues describe dysfunction in certain neural […]