Eating Disorders: An Exploratory Investigation of Purging Disorder.

An exploratory investigation of purging disorder.

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Eat Behav. 2013 Jan; 14(1): 26-34
Smith KE, Crowther JH

Purging Disorder (PD) is an understudied pattern of behaviors within the Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS) category. Such categorization may suggest that PD is not clinically significant as other eating disorders. However, evidence has suggested that PD is associated with significant impairments in psychosocial functioning and well-being. Despite the apparent clinical significance of PD, it remains to be determined if PD is distinct from other clinically significant eating disorders. The present study sought to assess the phenomenology, clinical significance, and distinctiveness of PD.Group scores on measures of eating pathology, body image disturbance, and psychological correlates were compared using MANOVA among a female undergraduate sample (N=94) meeting diagnostic criteria for PD (n=20), Bulimia Nervosa (BN; n=35), restrained eating (n=18), and healthy controls (n=21).Overall, results indicated the PD group reported less severe symptoms than BN but more severe symptoms than controls. The PD and restraint groups were similar on most variables (including subjective binge behavior), with the exception of perfectionism and hunger.Findings support the conceptualization of PD as existing along a spectrum of bulimic spectrum disorders rather than as a distinct diagnostic category.
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Mindfulness and its relationship with eating disorders symptomatology in women receiving residential treatment.

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Eat Behav. 2013 Jan; 14(1): 13-6
Butryn ML, Juarascio A, Shaw J, Kerrigan SG, Clark V, O’Planick A, Forman EM

Mindfulness and its related constructs (e.g., awareness and acceptance) are increasingly being recognized as relevant to understanding eating disorders and improving treatment. The purpose of this study was to (1) examine the relationship between mindfulness and ED symptomatology at baseline and (2) examine how changes in mindfulness relate to change in ED symptomatology.Measures of mindfulness and ED symptomatology were administered to 88 patients upon admission to residential ED treatment and at discharge.Baseline ED symptomatology was associated with lower awareness, acceptance, and cognitive defusion, and higher emotional avoidance. Improvements in these variables were related to improvement in ED symptomatology.Interventions targeting mindfulness could be beneficial for patients with EDs.
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Overweight and obesity prevention for adolescents: a cluster randomized controlled trial in a school setting.

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Am J Prev Med. 2013 Jan; 44(1): 30-9
Bonsergent E, Agrinier N, Thilly N, Tessier S, Legrand K, Lecomte E, Aptel E, Hercberg S, Collin JF, Briançon S,

Given the increasing prevalence of obesity among youth over the past decade, prevention has become an international public health priority.To evaluate the 2-year effectiveness of three strategies aimed at preventing overweight and obesity among adolescents in a high school setting.PRomotion de l’ALIMentation et de l’Activité Physique (PRALIMAP) is a school-based RCT. Each study high school was assigned to receive or not, over a 2-year period (Grades 10 and 11), each of three prevention strategies according to a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial school randomization. Data were collected in 2006-2009 and analyzed in 2009-2011.A total of 3538 adolescents (aged 15.6±0.7 years at baseline) in 24 public high schools in Lorraine (northeastern France) completed the PRALIMAP trial.The prevention strategies were education (development of nutritional knowledge and skills); environment (creation of a favorable environment by improving availability of “healthy” dietary items and physical activity); and screening and care (detection of overweight/obesity and, if necessary, adapted care management).The main outcome of interest was BMI; BMI z-score and prevalence of overweight/obesity were considered as secondary outcomes.Adolescents who completed the PRALIMAP trial were younger, less often suspected of having eating disorders and depression, and came from a higher socioeconomic class than those who did not. The 2-year change of outcomes was more favorable in the 12 screening and care high schools compared to the no-screening ones: a 0.11 lower increase in BMI (p=0.0303); a 0.04 greater decrease in BMI z-score (p=0.0173); and a 1.71% greater decrease in overweight/obesity prevalence (p=0.0386). Education and environment strategies were not more effective than no strategy intervention.Although the screening and care strategy is an effective way to prevent, at 2 years, overweight and obesity among adolescents in a high school setting, its effects over and above no strategy intervention were small.This study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.govNCT00814554.
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The 8 Year Old Anorexic: Part (1/5) – Dana, An 8 Year Old girl, embarks on an intensive 12-week program at a specialist clinic to overcome a eating disorder.

 

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