Eating Disorders
Eating disorders are a set of clinical psychiatric disorders, often with medical consequences, that can affect men and women of all ages. Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder are the three formal eating disorders, but many sufferers have combinations of symptoms from the different disorders. For more information on eating disorders and their treatment and prevention, consult the following sites:
- Yale Center for Eating & Weight Disorders
- National Eating Disorders Association
- PBS Perfect Illusions: Eating Disorders and the Family
Obesity and eating disorders
Childhood obesity is a risk factor for later development of an eating disorder. Some eating disorders, such as binge eating, can result in obesity. People often wonder whether efforts to prevent or intervene in obesity might leave children preoccupied with weight and therefore lead to eating disorders. So far, researchers have found no evidence to support this idea. However, there is some evidence that certain approaches to preventing eating disorders can in fact increase symptoms of those disorders, so there is reason to be careful about prevention efforts in this realm. Rudd Center researchers have recently published a paper on the unintended effects of eating disorder prevention, which is available here. Another resource for families is Treatment of Overweight Children: Practical Strategies for Parents, written by the Rudd Center's Kathryn Henderson, PhD, and Marlene Schwartz, PhD.
We believe that those working to prevent obesity and those working to prevent eating disorders can easily work together and, in fact, have similar goals: healthy children with healthy eating habits. Stay tuned for more Rudd Center writing on this issue.