Eating disorders are complex illnesses that affect adolescents with increasing frequency. They rank as the third most common chronic illness in adolescent females (1), with an incidence of…

Whether your child may benefit from psychiatric medication warrants close evaluation by her primary care physician or a psychopharmacologist (a psychiatrist who specializes in medication).

Thus far, most research on…

The number-one priority of your child’s treatment team will be to help her reach and maintain medical safety. While the physical complications of anorexia result mostly from self-starvation, those associated with bulimia…

Healthy puberty brings about a growth spurt. Young people who develop anorexia before reaching their genetically programmed adult height may end up shorter than they would be if they were nutritionally healthy. Boys grow…

Will she get better? How? Those questions weighed heavily on Lucinda’s mind when she first came to talk to us about her daughter, who had developed anorexia nervosa and soon became our patient.…

Yvette, 47, an acclaimed long-distance runner, relates her eating disorder, which struck as a college senior and lasted 10 years, to her determination to run the perfect marathon. Coached to…

The ability of a serious athlete to push herself to the limit can be a unique gift. Over the past 30 years, more athletic opportunities have opened up to women than ever…

Conscientiousness and a drive to excel are positive qualities through which a person can make great strides. But not everyone who works hard in school is an A…

Adolescent girls tend to form exclusive groups called cliques, complete with leaders and specific codes of behavior regarding what is acceptable. A given middle or high school may include many cliques, each with its…

Sleep-related eating disorder (SRED) is treatable and a reversible cause of obesity. The choice of medication depends on:

 
• which form of Sleep-related eating disorder (SRED) the patient exhibits (drug-induced or…

Repeated nocturnal binge eating episodes can have multiple adverse health effects. Patients often wake up with painful abdominal distention. Weight gain and subsequent increased BMI may compromise the control of…

Sleepwalking-like behavior is a frequently undiagnosed cause of patients’ obesity.

Ms. G, age 39, has a body mass index (BMI) >35 kg/m2 and is pursuing bariatric surgery to treat obesity.…

Because hormones that regulate appetite, food intake, and body weight also play a role in sleep regulation, patients with eating disorders often have associated sleep disorders. For example, obesity is related…

Pica is the persistent (more than 1 month) ingestion of nonnutritive substances inappropriate for developmental age and unacceptable as cultural practice. Pica encompasses a wide variety of populations including toddlers who…

Eating Disorders