Category Archives: Eating Disorders

Join Del Amo Behavioral Health in Supporting the National Eating Disorders Association

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Eating Disorders are a dangerous and serious disorder that impacts the patient and the family in long lasting and significant ways. To help promote awareness and support NEDA (National Eating Disorders Association), Del Amo Behavioral Health will be walking Saturday, March 7, 2015 at the NEDA WALK in Santa Monica. For more information on the walk, please visit the website.

Details

Walk Venue:  Crescent Bay Park
Walk Location:  2000 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90405
Walk Date:  Saturday, March 7th, 2015
Check In Time:  9 a.m.
Opening Ceremony: 10 a.m.     Walk End Time:  12 p.m.
Walk Fundraising Goal: $30,000
Contact: Julie Steinberg
Email: jsteinberg@nationaleatingdisorders.org

Follow NEDA on Facebook and spread the word!

Online Registration closes at 12 p.m. PST on Friday March 6th- sign up today! Not sure if you can meet that deadline? You can always register on-site at the walk!

Forming a team? Check out the Team Captain Toolkit for tips and best practices!

More questions about the walk?
Read Walk FAQ or contact NEDA at 212-575-6200 or walks@nationaleatingdisorders.org

Guest Speaker Carolyn Costin

Monte Nido Founder and Chief Clinical Officer, Carolyn Costin, MA., MEd, MFT, FAED, CEDS, recovered from anorexia in her twenties, became a therapist and saw her first eating disorder client in 1979. Carolyn has become renowned for her clinical acumen, her 4 books, her speaking engagements, and her residential and day treatment programs, Monte Nido & Affiliates, now in California, Oregon, Boston and New York.  Carolyn pioneered residential treatment in a home like setting opening the first Monte Nido in California in 1996.

Eating Disorder Gene Mutations

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Scientist have discovered two gene mutations that they believe are associated with an increased risk of eating disorders.

Anorexia nervosa and bulimia often run in families, but these eating disorders are complex, and it has proven difficult to identify the paths. But, using two families with very high incidences of eating disorders, scientists say they found rare mutations, one in each family, that were associated with the people who had the disorders.

The study suggests that mutations that decrease the activity of a protein that turns on the expression of other genes – called a transcription factor which increase risk. That transcription factor is estrogen-related receptor alpha, or ESRRA.

Anorexia nervosa and bulimia are debilitating and occur in 1% to 3% of women, less frequently among men. They are among the deadliest of psychiatric diseases. They are thought to occur as a result of a predisposition and environmental factors.

Related articles

Caution: Parent Talking Weight with Child May Increase Risk of Eating Disorder

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Study Suggests Talking About “Eating Healthy Foods” is Safer.

From Psychiatric News Alert (8/5/13): When parents discuss weight issues with their adolescents, it may encourage them to develop eating disorders, a large community-based study reported in JAMA Pediatrics suggests. The study found, for example, that youngsters were more likely to engage in unhealthy eating behaviors such as extreme dieting, laxative use, and binge eating when their parents talked about weight than when they talked about eating healthy foods. This was the case for overweight youth as well as for those who were not overweight. In addition, binge eating was found to be more prevalent among adolescents whose mothers discussed weight than among adolescents whose mothers didn’t.

“I think these are important findings,” Michael Devlin, M.D., co-director of eating disorders research at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, told Psychiatric News. “They support the idea that, despite our concerns about obesity and its comorbidities, the most useful health promotion messages relate to lifestyle and not weight, and that weight-related messaging, particularly messages that evoke shame or contribute to stigma, can be counterproductive.”

Body dissatisfaction is another major factor that has been linked with the development of eating disorders in young people. Read more about that issue in Psychiatric News here, and read about research on binge-eating disorder here.