Eating Disorders - Articles

1. Older Women, Too, Struggle With a Dangerous Secret

This article talks about older women who suffer or have suffered from either bulimia or anorexia nervosa. According to Lori Varecka, she was able to hide her eating disorder from her family for more than two decades. Another woman said that her husband just thought she had  "funny eating habits."  When hearing a word such as bulimia, we have a tendency to imagine a skin-and-bones teenager. However, it seems like that's just a pure illusion. This dangerous disorder has started to occur more frequently in our every day lives. Some of the similarities between teenagers and older women suffering from bulimia are: loneliness, insecurity and perfectionism. On the contrary, the main difference is considered to be the etiology, in other the words the reason why it occurred. Moreover, according to one particular study more than 20% of women suffering from anorexia died.

(http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/06/health/older-women-too-struggle-with-a-dangerous-secret.html) 

2. Study Links Bulimia to Chemical Malfunction in the Brain

A new study mentioned in this article suggests that bulimia is not only caused by mental problems, but also by brain's inability to regulate serotonin. To be more specific, women in the study who recovered from bulimia and were deprived from trytophan (amino acid found in foods whose function is to make serotonin) were more affected psychologically than the women who were not deprived from trytophan. In the second study, 10 recovered bulimics and 12 normal women were asked to drink a fruit drink. There were two control groups: some drinks contained trytophan and the rest did not. The results showed that lowered brain serotonin function that is caused by lower levels of trytophan in human body can trigger some features of bulimia nervosa.

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/16/health/study-links-bulimia-to-chemical-malfunction-in-the-brain.html 

3. VITAL SIGNS: BEHAVIOR; Trouble for Women in the Mess Hall

This article focused on the women in the Army and their eating disorder problems. The results of the recent study showed that 8% of the women who were in active duty in the Army suffered either from anorexia or bulimia. Even though this percentage is not extremely high, it is still higher than for the women in general. Therefore, a larger emphasis should be put on this issue. The study conducted by Dr. Tamara D. Lauder was studying 423 enlisted women at Fort Lewis. The researcher and her team were observing these women for about a year. 142 women appeared to have some clinical feature of eating disorders. According to the results, 33 women actually suffered from eating disorders. Some of them even admitted that they were binging and purging. To conclude, the researchers suggested that male environment full of physical tests might have a negative impact on women's mental health.

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/18/health/vital-signs-behavior-trouble-for-women-in-the-mess-hall.html

Bulimia Nervosa: Treatments

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

a) description: CBT can be described as a short-term psycho-therapeutic treatment. The goal of this therapy is to teach patients to deal or cope with things that negatively affect their behavior and life. In order to do this, a therapist helps him to identify the problematic beliefs.

b) when it is likely to be used:

The Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is commonly used to treat Bulimia Nervosa. Even its efficacy is pretty high, it's still has some significant limitations. There is a still a large number of patients for whom CBT is ineffective.

c) when it is not likely to be used:

Bulimia Nervosa such as any other disorder has several stages. In high stages when a patient starves himself to death, hospitalization which is a last resort is used instead of CBT.

Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)

a) description: IPT is a time-limited treatment lasting usually from 12-16 weeks. The therapist is constantly working with a patient. First, he/she identifies patient's problem and then he tries to help him. The therapy has three different stages. Thanks to the therapy, patients learn new interpersonal skills.Once again, the goal is to help a patient identify his/her problems. The therapy does not directly focus on bulimic symptoms.

b) when it is likely to be used:

It's effective for clients who are stuck in Bulimia Nervosa due to their problematic relationships.

c) when it is not likely to be used: Similarly as with CBT, a patient who is in a critical stage is most likely to be hospitalized. Therefore, Interpersonal Therapy would be, in this case,  inappropriate.

Antidepressants 

a) description: Their main function is to regulate brain chemicals that affect mood. They not only keep emotions stable, but they also have an ability to reduce frequency of binging and purging. The most common antidepressants that are used for curing bulimia are Fluoxetine (Prozac) functioning as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor and different kinds of tricyclics.

b) when it is likely to be used:

They are most effective when they are used with several therapies such as CBT or IPT. According to statistics, antidepressants help to reduce binging and purging in up to 75% patients.

c) when it is not likely to be used:

Children suffering from bulimia nervosa are not allowed to used antidepressants mentioned above as they may be harmful.

Hospitalization

a) description: A patient who goes to the hospital  for treatment requiring at least one overnight stay.

b) when it is likely to be used:

Hospitalization is used when: the body fat of a patient is lower than 10%, systolic pressure is lower than 90, heart rate is lower than 50 per minute daytime and 45 per minute nighttime and lastly when weight is smaller than 75% of the estimated body weight. It's considered to be the last resort!

c) when it is not likely to be used:

Hospitalization is not recommended when the above criteria are not met.