Eating Disorder Hope Monthly Newsletter

Your advocacy efforts are needed on Capitol Hill
Please support the Eating Disorder Coalition's advocacy efforts on April 26th & 27th! Your voice is needed to help eating disorder sufferers obtain the treatment they need to recover and live productive and fulfilling lives!
Check out: EDC Advocates Wish List @ www.eatingdisorderscoalition.org/advocateWishlist.htm

The EDC warmly welcomes all of you who care about eating disorders from across the United States to attend our April Lobby Day to advocate for the Federal Response to Eliminate Eating Disorders Act (the FREED Act).

Advocates from the states below are in particular high demand as you may be able to convince your Representative to support this bill. We need your voice!

If you are from any of the states listed below, or know someone who is, we need YOU to come to the April Lobby Day.

Click your State to find your representative and please join us on April 26th and April 27th for our first Lobby Day of 2010 in support of the FREED Act...read more @ http://www.eatingdisorderscoalition.org/advocateWishlist.htm

Learn More About the EDC's Lobby Day

Rogers Memorial Hospital is nationally recognized for its comprehensive, effective treatment of eating disorders.

www.eatingdisorderhope.com/eating-disorder-specialist-rogers-memorial-hospital.html

Board-certified adult psychiatrist Theodore E. Weltzin, MD, leads a team of more than 80 professionals specializing in the treatment of eating disorders.

We offer specialized treatment programs for children and teens, men and women, and adults with co-occurring anxiety disorders.

Prior to admission, prospective patients complete a free screening that is reviewed by the program's medical director to determine what level of care will meet the needs of each individual.

Three levels of care, inpatient, residential and partial hospitalization, are available for individuals struggling with:

* Anorexia nervosa
* Bulimia nervosa
* Binge eating disorder
* Eating disorder not otherwise specified (NOS).

Our first priority for patients is medical and nutritional stabilization, followed by identifying and changing errors in thinking as well as addressing any obstacles to recovery.

We invite patients, families and referring treatment team members to contribute to developing the individual's treatment plan. Family members and friends are also encouraged to participate in our monthly family and friends program.

Learn more about Rogers Memorial Hospital at:
www.rogerseatingdisorders.org

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Details About the New Eating Disorder Specialist Library:

The new Eating Disorder Specialist Library features detailed overviews and pictures of eating disorder treatment centers and providers. Simplify your search for specialized treatment today!

Many eating disorder sufferers and families find that reviewing the online 'virtual brochures' offered in the Eating Disorder Specialist Library greatly simplifies their search and puts them in touch with some of the best treatment centers and providers for their loved one suffering from anorexia, bulimia or binge eating disorder.

This new and rapidly expanding eating disorder specialist library is an excellent tool for eating disorder sufferers, families, friends and treatment providers who feel overwhelmed with where to begin in the search for appropriate care for the eating disorder sufferer.

Finding highly skilled professionals specialized in the field is key to successful recovery. Begin your search here...

contact info@EatingDisorderHope.com for consideration of listing your treatment center or practice in our exclusive library!

Visit the Eating Disorder Specialist Library

Eating Disorder Psychotherapists Who Have a Personal History of an Eating Disorder: Exploring the Experience of Professional Ethics.
For more information, please contact Meris Williams (doctoral candidate in Counselling Psychology at UBC) at 604-321-1904, meris.williams@gmail.com, or ed.therapist.study@gmail.com, or access the following website:
http://sites.google.com/site/edpsychotherapiststudy/


Looking Beyond the Surface Acceptance-based separated family treatment for adolescents with anorexia nervosa. This is a collaborative study between Duke University Medical Center and Towson University. For whom is this study appropriate? 1) Adolescents between 12-18 2) who are medically stable for outpatient treatment 3) and who have symptoms of anorexia nervosa What can I expect? This study involves 20 sessions. In sessions 1-16 adolescents and parents are seen seperately; and in sessions 17-20 the family meets together. As this is a new treatment, participants will be asked to complete a number of questionnaires on the computer, provide feedback about the treatment, and participate in focus groups. Please call Lisa K. Honeycutt at 919-684-0353 or email her at edresearch@duke.edu.


Research Study using MRI to examine Bulimia Nervosa in adolescent girls
Would you like to participate in a research study?
WHO CAN PARTICIPATE: *12-21 yrs old *Females *All ethnicities
WHERE: The study will take place at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Drive in Manhattan.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN: Participation in our study will include a visit that will require 5-6 hours of your time and include interviews, games and puzzles, and an MRI. The total compensation will be $100 per person. For more information please call the Eating Disorders Clinic at (212) 543-5316 and mention the BN MRI study.
Contact: Rachel Marsh, Ph.D. @ (212) 543-5316 or
Email: marshr@childpsych.columbia.edu or lb2518@columbia.edu

More Research Information

ENTER DRAWING
Please complete the contact form, enter book drawing in message, and you will automatically be entered into our April 15th, 2010 drawing to win a copy of this book!

My Kid is Back
By June Alexander and Daniel le Grange, PhD
(Melbourne University Publishing, 2009)

My Kid is Back explains how family-based treatment can greatly reduce the severity of anorexia nervosa in children and adolescents, allowing the sufferer to return to normal eating patterns, and their families to return to normal family life. In this book ten families share their experiences of living with anorexia. Parents describe their frustrations in seeking help for their child and dealing with their behaviour and sufferers discuss how the illness gets into their mind and takes over their personality. By focusing on the Maudsley family approach and expert advice from Professor Daniel Le Grange, and including clear lists of illness symptoms, strategies for parents and carers to follow, and information on getting further treatment and support, this book proves an essential resource for families who want to win the battle with anorexia nervosa.

Enter Drawing Here!

ENTER DRAWING
Please complete the contact form, enter book title in message, and you will automatically be entered into our April 15th, 2010 drawing!

Crave
By Cynthia Bulik, Ph.D., Director of University of North Carolina Eating Disorders Program (Walker and Company, 2010)

Clinical psychologist Cynthia M. Bulik is a leading authority on eating disorders including binge eating disorder (BED). Binge eating disorder is less well known than anorexia or bulimia nervosa but is more prevalent. Health professionals estimate 5,250,000 American women and 3,000,000 men suffer from BED.

Genetic predisposition, brain chemistry, psychology, and cultural pressures increase a person's susceptibility to BED, but binging is not inevitable. Crave helps readers understand why they crave specific foods, recognize what triggers their strong urges, and get control over their responses to those triggers. BED is highly treatable; Bulik shares a set of easy-to-implement "curb the crave" techniques that have empowered patients at the University of North Carolina Eating Disorders Program and elsewhere to triumph over binge eating. Through patients' stories and Bulik's guidance, readers will develop effective strategies to successfully conquer their cravings and establish healthy eating and activity habits.

Visit http://www.cravethebook.com to learn more about the book

Enter Drawing Here!

ENTER DRAWING
Please complete the contact form, enter book title in message, and you will automatically be entered into our May 15th, 2010 drawing!

*Compulsive behaviors, such as overspending, are often issues for eating disorder sufferers, this book may be of help.

The Secret Language of Money
By David Krueger MD
McGraw Hill Publishers, 2009
A Business Bestseller, Translated into 9 languages

The Secret Language of Money is a guided tour to the subconscious meanings we give money, the conflicted ways our brain deals with money, the reasons we tend to make the same money mistakes over and over – and most importantly, how you can change all that.

Even though we talk about money regularly, think about it daily, we may not know how to clearly and simply tell our money stories to our selves to see what needs to change. This book guides an understanding of our relationship with money and how to change our money stories. Former Psychiatrist and current Executive Mentor Coach David Krueger brings together the worlds of neuroeconomics, psychology, and neuroscience to help you figure out your own relationship to money, and fix it if it's flawed.

Listen to the recorded "An Evening With The Author" and sign up for the Blog at the book site: www.TheSecretLanguageofMoney.com

Also available by David Krueger MD: Your New Money Story™: ROADMAP for Money Mastery
A Seminar Series on 5 CDs + Workbook at: www.NewMoneyStory.com

Enter Drawing Here!

The Binge Eating Disorder Association held its first national conference March 4th-6th, 2010 in Baltimore, Maryland. It was a spectacular success with fascinating presentations, excellent materials and invaluable information regarding binge eating disorder.

Be sure to mark your calendars for the March 30-April 2, 2011 conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, at the Firesky Resort and Spa.

Learn more about BEDA

Become Licensed and Specialty-Certified as a New Life Story™ Wellness Coach

Training: New Life Story™ Wellness Coach Training is a licensed, specialty-certified program for Professionals who want add a significant dimension of scope and mastery to their practices. This unique and effective system blends the insights of psychology, dynamic neuroscience, quantum physics, and the principles of strategic coaching to mentor clients' new life and wellness stories.

Curriculum: Live A New Life Story™ The Owners Guide, includes the ROADMAP Program (a seven-step template for change) and modules that guide successful life, money, career, relationship, wellness, and mindset story changes. The curriculum includes the New Life Story™ Workbook with 68 proprietary tools and exercises licensed for the New Life Story Coach™ to use in practice with clients to systematically guide action steps for change and possibility.

Teleseminar format: David Krueger MD, Executive Mentor Coach, Founder and Director, delivers the fundamental skills you need to help your clients evolve new mindsets to write a new wellness story. The 12-week specialty-certification training provides you with the tools and understanding for successfully implementing the New Life Story™ Wellness Coaching System. Graduates become part of the New Life Story™ Wellness Registry for individual and corporate referral.

www.NewWellnessStory.com

by Emily (Rader Programs)

Counting out the change cupped in her palm, flicking the last three coins over with her fingertip, she realizes she does not have enough. Her car, as empty as she is, sits out by the gas pump, awaiting her decision. The banana nut muffin she planned to eat on the way to her interview sits still on the bright blue countertop by the cash register. Gas or food, gas or food... Not enough for both.
Since losing her job, things have become progressively harder. Almost all day, every day, she works to try to find work. It is a grueling, trying, tedious, thankless, fruitless, stressful job in and of itself. And it pays nothing. In fact, between the gas needed to drop off resumes and applications, copies paid for (dime after dime, one at a time) at the library, a suit and shoes for interviews, etc., trying to find a job, is COSTING her money.

There are no more corners to cut. She spends nothing on anything that is not absolutely necessary or is not related to the goal of getting a job. She can barely pay her bills to keep her home, or to keep the lights and heat on in it. Meeting with her mailbox reduces her to tears on a regular basis. Bill after bill, she is losing everything. Including weight...

"Five on pump seven, please. And I am not going to take the muffin, actually."

Her stomach growls in protest; a last attempt to get her attention, change her mind, cause her to reconsider. When times are tough and money is tight, it can be even more difficult to make sure we are getting the nourishment we need. For those with eating disorders, food may slip further and further down the list of priorities when there are limited resources. For those in recovery, it can trigger the onset of a relapse. When financial constraints lead to a reduced intake, though weight loss may be initially unintentional, it can lead back to an eating disorder. Denying the body's need for food or adequate nutrition can be more easily rationalized when money is going to other things.

Finish reading article under title: Recession and Relapse

Article: Prevalence and Outcome of Eating Disorders
submitted by: Rader Programs (www.raderprograms.com)

Prevalence of Eating Disorders

Each year, millions of people in the United States succumb to potentially life-threatening eating disorders. Estimates of people afflicted with Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa in the United States range from 2% to 6%. This implies that between 5 and 16 million people suffer from these disorders. Approximately 90% of those afflicted with these disorders are women. The potentially fatal disease, Anorexia Nervosa, occurs within the population at approximately .5% to 2%. Estimates for the occurrence of Bulimia Nervosa range between 1% to 4% of the population. Although eating disorders can affect people of all ages, 86% of individuals afflicted with these disorders report the onset before the age of 20. The occurrence of eating disorders among college age women can almost be considered epidemic. Between 19% and 30% of this age group display bulimic behavior. The current trend is that eating disorders are affecting younger and younger individuals. It is estimated that currently 11% of high school students may have a diagnosable eating disorder. Athletes and dancers may face a greater risk for developing an eating disorder. In ballet, for example, success may depend on the attainment of a wiry and extremely thin body type. For athletes, particularly women in "appearance sports" which include gymnastics and figure skating, appearance also seems to play a key role in success. Of females who participate in these types of athletic activities, as well as track and cross-country, 62% have been reported to have eating disorders.

Course and Outcome of Eating Disorders

The onset for Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa is usually during late adolescence or early adulthood. The illnesses usually begin following a stressful life event. Many eating disordered individuals feel out of control with their life and through the practice of the eating disorder get a false sense of control. They often went through a period of being overweight and being teased or felt left out because of their weight. Their first attempts at weight loss were often met with success and positive comments from their family and peers. Of individuals with eating disorders, 77% usually practice their eating disorders between 1 and 15 years. Eating disorders are among the deadliest mental disorders with up to 10% succumbing to death as a result of starvation, cardiac arrest, or suicide. Eating disorders are most successfully treated with early diagnosis. For anorexics that receive treatment, 40% recover completely, 40% make only partial recovery, and 20% have chronic problems. For bulimics, 50% recover completely, 35% have some bulimic episodes, and 15% still have chronic problems with their bulimia.

Today I lived in the state of befuddlement, and it all started with a certain menu at a certain coffee shop.

In my stressed-out-need-caffeine NOW mind, coffee sounded like a great idea. There is nothing like a hot cup of coffee with enough sugary goodness to sustain me through the remaining hours of the day. As I stood soaking in the aroma of freshly ground coffee beans, my eyes glazed over the menu.

Then stopped.

Out of the thirty drink options on the menu, twenty-nine of them sounded amazing. I wanted them all, but I knew my bank account (and tummy!) would not be able to handle such a venture. So I pulled out a chair, sat down, and read the menu.

For ten minutes.

As simple a choice as choosing coffee is, I just could not decide. It was excruciating for my already worn out mind. I ended up choosing the safe route and going with my "usual", knowing full well that it would satisfy my coffee craving.

And it did... but I knew I was missing out on so much more.

Which brings me to the point of my coffee story: I am an orange vest wearing Safety Patrol girl. I am known for sticking to the safe route in life and avoiding all the drinks that may taste yucky. I have a risk aversion that needs serious treatment.

Want to know why it took me so long to finally seek recovery on my own? I was comfortable in my eating disorder. It had become my safety zone. I did not know how to navigate the world outside of food, weight, and mirrors. I did not know what it meant to express emotions. I did not know what honesty could look like in my life.

Really, I did not know anything besides my eating disorder. I clung to the safety net until I realized that the safety net was the only thing holding me back from living free.

Truly free.

It was in that moment I realized that I had a choice to make. I could live my life in the safety zone (as destructive as that zone may be), or I could take that first step and jump into the waters of the unknown.

I made the choice to jump, and I do not regret it one bit.

Is life in recovery different from life with my eating disorder? Yes, but it's a good different. It's a different that makes me stop and say, "Why didn't I choose this sooner?" It's a different that leaves me refreshed at the end of the day, ready to take whatever life dishes out at me.

Does that mean life is a breeze now? No. There are still trials. There are still rough spots. There are still moments I have total breakdowns in the most inconvenient places and times; however, living outside the safety zone means I can make choices best suited for that moment. I can handle whatever comes my way without falling back on my eating disorder. I can live free, whatever my emotional state.

And when that safety zone threatens to pull me back into its parameters, I'll just remember that I have twenty-eight flavors left to try.

Check out Alexis' new blog