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Eating Recovery Center In the News: EverydayHealth.com
“Are Parents to Blame for Their Children with Eating Disorders?”
The most recent installment of Julie Holland’s EverydayHealth.com blog addresses this key question. Recognizing that many parents of children with eating disorders wonder about their role in the development of the illness, Julie welcomes insights from Brittany Lacour, LCSW, DAACS, primary therapist at Eating Recovery Center. In the article, Brittany offers suggestions to help families, eating disorders professionals and children and adolescents understand that while it’s natural to look for a “cause,” parents are not to blame for an eating disorder. Read an excerpt of the article below, or click here to view it in its entirety.
Parents help us, teach us, raise us and are integral in forming the person we grow to become. There’s no doubt that children take on a piece of their parents personalities and behaviors when they grow up and take an active role in the world. But how does that translate when a child develops a serious illness or mental health issue? Is it his or her parents’ fault?
Eating disorders leave individuals and families faced with a complex illness that offers little room for logic or reason. The severity of the illness, combined with uncertainty of its origin leaves many of us wondering, “Who’s to blame?” This question becomes especially important when treating children with eating disorders, such as anorexia or bulimia. Are parents to blame for their child’s disordered eating behaviors?
Although eating disorders are in fact genetic, that doesn’t mean parents are responsible.
Brittany Lacour, LCSW, DAACS, primary therapist at Eating Recovery Center, explains that as humans we look for cause and effect—it’s natural. However, when it comes to an illness, especially a multifaceted illness with genetic, psychological and social roots, this can lead to finger pointing. Often we try to control what’s scary to us; and having a radically ill child or partner is petrifying. If it’s our fault, we then carry the faulty belief that we can “fix” it.
Posted in About Us, EverydayHealth.com, General, In the News •
Eating Recovery Center In the News: The Huffington Post
“Eating Disorders Treatment for Children and Adolescents”
In the latest installment of his Huffington Post blog, Dr. Weiner welcomes the insights of Elizabeth Easton, PsyD, on treatment for eating disorders in children and adolescents. As Clinical Director of Child and Adolescent Services at Eating Recovery Center’s Behavioral Hospital for Children and Adolescents, Dr. Easton understands that parents seeking eating disorders treatment for their children and teens face a distinctive set of uncertainties. Read an excerpt of Dr. Easton’s insights below, or click here to read the Huffington Post article in its entirety.
How are child and adolescent eating disorders treatment different from treating eating disorders in adults?
The fundamental aspects of eating disorders treatment tend to be fairly consistent between adults and children and/or teens. Because these illnesses affect both mind and body, treatment providers will generally offer medical support, psychiatric stabilization and medication. Therapeutic support is also offered from skilled clinicians, including individual therapists, family
therapists and dietitians. However, key differences between programs designed for adults and those catering to younger patient populations pertain to the use of developmentally appropriate treatment plans and the availability of education services to help patients progress in K-12 studies during the course of treatment.
Developmentally sound care requires that the treatment team take into consideration not only the chronological age of patients, but also their developmental stage and their readiness to assume key responsibilities in the recovery process. Some patients who are either chronologically or developmentally young may require more assistance from parents regarding key
elements of the recovery process, like refeeding, weight maintenance and compliance with the post-discharge plan of care. Furthermore, seeking effective treatment for your child or teen doesn’t mean that a child or teen’s academic functioning must suffer. Unlike programs for adults, child and adolescent eating disorders treatment can involve an educational component to help patients move forward with their studies to support a seamless transition back to school following treatment.
What should parents look for in an eating disorders treatment center or provider?
Comprehensive care from skilled experts is the most important element to look for when seeking eating disorders treatment for your child or adolescent. Eating disorders are incredibly complex illnesses, and it’s critical to identify a provider with experience treating the diseases in young patient populations and a record of successful treatment outcomes.
Another characteristic that parents should look for in a treatment provider is an educational component. By this, I mean two things. First, look for programs that make a point of educating parents and families about eating disorders and how to support the recovery of their young loved ones following discharge from treatment. Lasting eating disorders recovery for your child hinges in large part on you gaining a thorough understanding of the illness, as well as learning about and practicing effective strategies for helping to manage recovery. Secondly, treatment programs should offer a structured educational component with adequate support from licensed educators to help young patients maintain academic functioning while in treatment. Intensive eating disorders treatment can be disruptive in the life of a child or teen, and every effort should be made to support them in this area of their lives.
Read more from Dr. Easton on The Huffington Post.
Posted in Anorexia Nervosa, Binge Eating, Bulimia Nervosa, General, Huffington Post, In the News, Treatment Options •
Eating Recovery Center In the News: EverydayHealth.com
Autism and Eating Disorders: Are They Related?
In the most recent installment of her EverydayHealth.com blog, “The Truth About Eating Disorders,” Chief Marketing Officer Julie Holland, MHS, CEDS, explores the connection between autism and eating disorders. Read on for an excerpt of her blog post, or click here to read the post in its entirety.
There has long been scientific speculation about the connection between autism and eating disorders. Although the two disorders don’t always go hand in hand, anorexia nervosa patients share some diagnostic characteristics with individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
As many as 20 percent of anorexia patients meet the diagnostic criteria of Asperger’s syndromei, a milder variant of ASD characterized by social isolation and eccentric behavior in childhood. Additionally, a 2010 study from the Primal Health Research Centre in London revealed that females with autism and females with anorexia have strikingly similar brain functionality and are strongly driven by left-brain impulses.ii
Autism and eating disorders have compelling similarities. As found in the 2010 study, there are striking similarities between individuals with anorexia and those with autism. This finding can impact treatment for either disorder. Here are a few more ways these disorders are similar:
1.Both individuals with anorexia and individuals with autism exhibit rigidity in thinking and obsessive-compulsive behaviors.
2.Both patient populations have trouble managing change.
3.Girls and women with Asperger’s tend to be perfectionists, similar to individuals with anorexia. They often treat their weight with special interest, exhibiting an obsession with content and calories.
Posted in Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, EverydayHealth.com, General, In the News •
Prestigious Eating Disorders Treatment Award Named in Honor of Eating Recovery Center’s Dr. Craig Johnson
Center’s Chief Clinical Officer Honored by National Eating Disorders Association for Outstanding Contributions to the Eating Disorders Field
Nationally recognized eating disorders expert, Craig Johnson, PhD, FAED, CEDS, has been honored by the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), with the creation of a prestigious professional award in his name. The “Craig Johnson Award for Excellence in Clinical Practice and Training,” which was awarded for the first time at NEDA’s annual conference in October, recognizes top eating disorders professionals who have distinguished themselves with their contributions to eating disorders knowledge, training and treatment.
Dr. Johnson is chief clinical officer of Eating Recovery Center (www.EatingRecoveryCenter.com), an international center for eating disorders recovery, providing comprehensive treatment for anorexia, bulimia, EDNOS and binge eating disorder.
“Craig Johnson is one of the most passionate, dedicated and talented clinicians treating eating disorders,” said Lynn Grefe, president and chief executive officer of NEDA. “As a pioneer in the field, he has shared his knowledge generously with all who enter this field, and has been a torch of inspiration for others in the search for more effective treatments.”
Dr. Johnson has been a leader in the eating disorders field for more than 30 years. He is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Oklahoma Medical School and has formerly held faculty appointments at Yale, University of Chicago and Northwestern University Medical Schools.
An innovator in eating disorders treatment, Dr. Johnson has built eating disorders programs at the University of Chicago, Northwestern University Medical School, Laureate Psychiatric Clinic and Hospital, and has contributed significant clinical expertise to the development of Eating Recovery Center’s programs.
Dr. Johnson has been actively involved in treatment research. As a principal investigator on two National Institute of Mental Health funded collaborative studies, he has made significant contributions to the field’s understanding of the role of genetics in eating disorders and the effectiveness of Family Based Therapy in the treatment of anorexia nervosa. He has authored three books and more than 80 scientific articles.
In his commitment to advancing eating disorders understanding and treatment implications, he has served as founding editor of the International Journal of Eating Disorders, co-founder of the International Conference on Eating Disorders, founder of the Academy for Eating Disorders and co-founder of the Eating Disorders Research Society. He is also a founding member and past president of NEDA.
“It is not hyperbole to say that Craig is our field’s pre-eminent visionary, for it was his prescience and vigor that led to the creation of the Academy for Eating Disorders, now home to research scholars and practitioners alike,” said Michael Strober, PhD, Franklin Mint chair in eating disorders, professor of psychiatry and director of the Eating Disorders Program at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. “There is no doubt that Craig’s legacy will be timeless.”
The 2011 Craig Johnson Award for Excellence in Clinical Practice & Training was awarded to Kelly Vitousek, PhD, associate professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii; co-director of the Center for Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy in Honolulu and director of its eating disorders program. She also serves on the editorial board of The International Journal of Eating Disorders.
Posted in About Us, General, In the News, Meetings/Events, Press Releases •
Eating Recovery Center In the News: PsychCentral
“The Impact Of ‘Fat Talk’ On Kids & What Parents Can Do”
This month’s Fat Talk Free Week resulted in a number of articles featuring Eating Recovery Center experts commenting on the impact of fat talk – or disparaging body-, weight- or shape-related comments – particularly on children. In the interview excerpt below, Elizabeth Easton, PsyD, Clinical Director of Child and Adolescent Services at Eating Recovery Center, discusses whether fat talk is a new phenomenon, its effect on kids, how parents can help and much more. Click here to read Dr. Easton’s interview in its entirety.
Q: Do you think there’s more fat talk today then there was a few decades or even a decade ago? Is this a new phenomenon?
A: I do believe “fat talk” has increased in the last decade, for both adults and children. I’m not sure it’s a “new phenomenon” because it’s human nature to want something different than what we have. Straight-haired woman envy curly-haired women; curly-haired women envy straight-haired women, etc. We generally look for what is more envied or valued, and then strive for that.
“Skinniness” has been highly valued in our society for several decades, but now it’s not just in magazines and on television. It’s on the Internet and readily assessable through blogs, tweets, websites about dieting and even pro-eating disorders websites. If desired, people can be inundated with “fat talk” 24 hours a day with just one “click.”
Q: What are the consequences of fat talk?
A: Any time we contribute to the dialogue about “skinny is pretty,” we are devaluing body acceptance. We learn how to assess our bodies based on our environment. If we buy into or even just allow “fat talk” to occur around us, we are creating an environment that perpetuates “good” versus “bad” body types.
Negative body image is an easy hook for individuals who struggle with self-esteem or identity to latch onto as a way to feel more confident and even accepted by others.
I hear children and teens talk about this dynamic daily at Eating Recovery Center’s Behavioral Hospital for Children and Adolescents. Somewhere along the way they learned: skinny equals acceptance.
Posted in General, In the News, Latest Research, Treatment Options •
Eating Recovery Center In the News: The Huffington Post
Too Much of a Good Thing? What You Need to Know About Compulsive Over-Exercising
In the most recent post to his Huffington Post blog, Dr. Weiner discusses compulsive over-exercising, and explains how the behavior often occurs alongside eating disorders, as the motivations underlying the excessive physical activity often stem from food-, body- or weight-related issues. Read an excerpt of his article below, or click here to read the article in its entirety.
Exercise is good for you. This shouldn’t come as shocking news to anyone; the risks of a sedentary lifestyle are abundant and well reported, particularly as the country faces a public health crisis in which one-third of adults and 17 percent of children are obese.*
However, like most things in life, you can get too much of a good thing when it comes to exercise. Compulsive over-exercise is characterized by frequent episodes of excessive physical activity. Individuals will go to great lengths to fit exercise regimens into their schedules, even if it means skipping work, cutting school, avoiding social events with friends and family, even exercising in secret. Instead of supporting health, excessive exercise, inadequate rest and recovery time between physical activities can damage a person’s body and overall health, causing joint injuries, tendonitis, stress fractures, muscle tears, exhaustion, fainting and dehydration.
Compulsive exercise often occurs alongside eating disorders, as the motivations underlying the excessive physical activity often stem from food-, body- or weight-related issues. Many over-exercisers will do so as a result of guilt or shame from just having eaten or binged or to give themselves “permission” to eat. (The latter was recently the target of much scrutiny from the eating disorders awareness community when the idea was used humorously in a Yoplait commercial.) In fact, exercise bulimia is a subset of bulimia nervosa in which an individual is compelled to exercise at an overly excessive level in an effort to burn calories and fat. Just as individuals with bulimia purge calories through vomiting or laxative use, exercise bulimics use physical activity as their compensatory behavior. Over-exercising behaviors can also accompany anorexia nervosa when used in conjunction with severe food and calorie restriction.
Posted in Anorexia Nervosa, Binge Eating, Bulimia Nervosa, General, Huffington Post, In the News •
Eating Recovery Center In the News: The Denver Post
Former plus-size model gets out the message: “Healthy Is the New Skinny”
“Fat Talk Free Week” 2011 is upon us! In today’s edition of The Denver Post, a former model discusses her struggles to be accepted at a “normal” size and the new campaign that seeks to communicate that “healthy is the new skinny.” In the article, Dr. Ovidio Bermudez, Medical Director of Child and Adolescent Services at Eating Recovery Center, shares insights on the effects of “fat talk” on children, and shares strategies for modeling healthy behaviors and promoting positive body image in children and teens. Read an excerpt of the article below, or click here to view the article in its entirety.
“When we engage in ‘fat talk’ and critique our own bodies or the bodies of others, we teach children to value thinness above all else,” said Dr. Ovidio Bermudez, medical director of child and adolescent services at Eating Recovery Center in Denver. “This excessive focus on body shape and size creates an unrealistic ideal in the minds of children upon which body image issues and eating disorders can develop.”
With the launch of her website, healthyisthenewskinny.com, Halchishick plans to take her message into schools and college campuses, and cut through the confusion about health and weight and beauty, to share what she and other “normal” models and athletes have found to be true.
“We found our happiness in our health. We can show you how to be beautiful and glamorous and healthy and this is what it looks like,” says Halchishick.
Posted in General, In the News •
Eating Recovery Center In the News: EverydayHealth.com
Turning 50 Years Old: Looking Back and Moving Forward
In a recent EverydayHealth.com post, Eating Recovery Center’s Chief Marketing Officer Julie Holland, MHS, CEDS, shares personal stories and thoughts on her 50th birthday and accepting ourselves as we turn another year older.
“Last year, I had the opportunity to hear Gloria Steinem, author and feminist activist, speak and she shared how she is saddened by the fact that women don’t like to share their true ages. She encouraged women to share and be proud of their true age. I agree. I’m proud of and have never hidden or lied about my age. However, turning the “big 50” has brought up a mixture of feelings. For the majority of people, turning 50 is a monumental birthday full of nostalgia for the past and excitement for the future; and it’s no different for me.”
Read more here.
Posted in EverydayHealth.com, General, In the News •
Eating Recovery Center In the News: Chesapeake Family
“Does Your Child Have an Eating Disorder?”
The insights of Dr. Ovidio Bermudez, Medical Director of Child and Adolescent Services, were recently featured in a Chesapeake Family magazine article discussing the incidence of eating disorders in children, the warning signs for which parents should watch, and treatment options for this young patient population. Read on for a short excerpt, or click here to view the article in its entirety.
According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), as many as 10 million females and one million males in the United States are struggling with eating disorders.
It may begin subtly enough. Your teenage daughter starts concealing her body beneath several layers of clothes. Your teenage son becomes obsessed with exercise and weight lifting. Perhaps you find packages of laxatives in your teen’s room. Or maybe your daughter no longer wants to eat with the family when you order pizza—a weekly ritual that she used to love. You may think that your son or daughter is just “going through a phase.” After all, the teenage years are a turbulent time, and teens seem to change their moods and behaviors from day to day. But don’t be so quick to dismiss any unusual occurrences as passing phases. All of these behaviors are red flags and may be signs that your teen is struggling with an eating disorder.
Many people believe that eating disorders are not “real” illnesses or that they are just fads. Others acknowledge that the illnesses are serious, but they believe that such conditions only affect females.
“There are many misconceptions regarding eating disorders,” says Dr. Ovidio Bermudez, Medical Director of Child and Adolescent Services for Eating Recovery Center in Denver, Colo. “Researchers are still learning and accumulating information. We know more now than we did 10 years ago, but there is still much we don’t know, still much more we need to learn. However, we do know that everyone is at risk. Eating disorders affect people of all races and ethnicities. And they don’t just affect girls and young women. They also affect children, older women and men.”
Posted in General, In the News, Treatment Options •
Dr. Jennifer McBride Transitions to Full-Time Internal Medicine Role at Eating Recovery Center
Internist with background in eating disorders treatment brings valuable skill set to Center’s comprehensive programs
Eating Recovery Center (www.EatingRecoveryCenter.com), a national center for eating disorders recovery providing comprehensive treatment for anorexia and bulimia, today announced that Jennifer McBride, MD, has been promoted from a part-time role to serve as a full-time internist for patients ages 10 through adult. Although Dr. McBride will provide medical care to patients at all levels of care, her new role also supports the expansion of the Center’s adult Inpatient and Residential programs from 24 to 29 beds. The Center recently added the five beds due to an increased need for inpatient eating disorders treatment.
“Dr. McBride’s specialized eating disorders treatment expertise is a tremendous asset as she works to restore health among Eating Recovery Center’s medically compromised patients,” said Kenneth L. Weiner, MD, FAED, CEDS, chief executive officer, chief medical officer and founding partner of Eating Recovery Center. “Her transition into a full-time role enables us to continue to provide comprehensive care to the growing population of individuals who struggle with these serious diseases.”
Dr. McBride, who is Board-certified in internal medicine, has more than seven years of experience as an internist at Exempla Denver Medical Associates in Denver, Colo. She has provided part-time care and internal medicine expertise to patients at Eating Recovery Center since it opened its doors in 2008.
In addition to supporting Eating Recovery Center’s inpatient and residential eating disorders patients, Dr. McBride will be an available resource for patients in the Center’s Partial Hospitalization and Outpatient eating disorders treatment programs, as well as patients at the Center’s Behavioral Hospital for Children and Adolescents.
“Eating disorders are complicated diseases with serious medical implications. By working with internists who are familiar with the complications of these illnesses, our patients can seamlessly transition to lower levels of care,” said Dr. McBride. “Similarly, those patients who have discharged from Eating Recovery Center’s treatment programs can rest assured that their ongoing outpatient medical needs are met by a team with strong expertise in eating disorders care.”
Dr. McBride earned her master’s degree at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, with a major in communications disorders and audiology. She completed her doctorate in medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in 2001 and her residency at Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital.
Posted in General, Press Releases, Treatment Options •
