Progress in Eating Disorders Research (original) (raw)

Eating disorders: Efficacy of pharmacological and psychological interventions

Clinical Psychology Review, 1996

Estimates of the prevalence of eating disorders are less than 1% for anorexia nexvosa (AN), l-3% for bulimia nervosa (BN), and between 2 and 5% for binge eating disorder (BED). While these estimates reflect the proportion of community populations satisfying formal diagnostic criteria, the prevalence of caloric restriction, binge eating, purging, and other pathogenic weight control behaviors (PWCBs) is much higher, ranging from 15 to 40% (Schlundt &Johnson, 1990, Spitzer et al., 1992). Eating disorders have profound health, economic, and personalsocial consequences. AN is associated with a significant mortality (5-15%), and BN is closely related to depression and various Correspondence should be addressed to 457 458 W G. Johnson, J. I! Tsoh, and II J. Varnado

Eating Disorders: Progress and Challenges

European Journal of Internal Medicine, 2011

Background: Eating disorders are common health problems afflicting mainly female adolescents and young women. They are associated with important physical health and psychosocial morbidity, and carry increased risk of death. Their cause is not yet completely understood and their management is complex, with some patients resisting all available treatments. Aims of this review: To provide the readers with an update regarding our knowledge and understanding of eating disorders. Methods: Medline database has been used for searching articles on eating disorders published since 1980. The key words used were eating disorders, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, bulimia, and binge eating. Professional books published during this period has been also reviewed. Conclusions: In the last 30 years a substantial improvement has been achieved both in the understanding and management of eating disorders, but many problems still need to be resolved. Three principal priorities should be addressed. First, the actual classification of eating disorders should be revised, since about half the cases seen in clinical practice receive a diagnosis of eating disorder not otherwise specified, and it is common to observe a migration between eating disorder diagnoses. Second, the research on pathogenesis should better clarify the exact role of genetic and environmental risk factors, and how they interact and vary across the development and maintenance of eating disorders. Third, there is an urgent need both to disseminate the few evidence-based treatments available, and to develop more potent treatments for all the eating disorder diagnostic categories.

Eating Disorder Research in the Past Decade

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1996

Current concepts of the eating disorders are reflected in the changing classification of these disorders, which in turn reflects the research of the past decade. Research in the past decade has also provided substantial evidence that the eating disorders are best understood within the conceptual frame of a multidimensional model. The numerous treatment approaches for the eating disorders reflect the various categories within this multidimensional model. This article addresses three major topics: classification of the eating disorders, the multidimensional conceptualization of eating disorders, and treatment studies. CLASSIFICATION OF EATING DISORDERS The three criteria for anorexia nervosa (AN) proposed by Russell more than 20 years ago are stilled embedded in the latest DMS-IV criteria.' These criteria are: (a) refusal to maintain body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height, (b) intense fear of gaining weight, and (4 amenorrhea-the

Treatment of Patients With Eating Disorders

2000

A guideline watch, summarizing significant developments in the scientific literature since publication of this guideline, may be available in the Psychiatric Practice section of the APA web site at www.psych.org.

Effective treatment of eating disorders: Results at multiple sites

Behavioral Neuroscience, 2013

We report the results of a study based on 1,428 patients with eating disorders treated at 6 clinics. These patients were consecutively referred over 18 years and used inpatient and outpatient treatment. The subjects were diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or an eating disorder not otherwise specified. Patients practiced a normal eating pattern with computerized feedback technology, they were supplied with external heat, their physical activity was reduced, and their social habits restored to allow them to return to their normal life. The estimated rate of remission for this therapy was 75% after a median of 12.5 months of treatment. A competing event such as the termination of insurance coverage, or failure of the treatment, interfered with outcomes in 16% of the patients, and the other patients remained in treatment. Of those who went in remission, the estimated rate of relapse was 10% over 5 years of follow-up and there was no mortality. These data replicate the outcomes reported in our previous studies and they compare favorably with the poor long-term remission rates, the high rate of relapse, and the high mortality rate reported with standard treatments for eating disorders.