Eating disorders are psychiatric illnesses involving frequent and severe atypical eating behaviors. They can be triggered by complex psychological turmoil, stemming from negative body image issues, life?s daily stressors, feelings of helplessness, problems with school or work, or relationship troubles. To cope with these stressors, individuals may restrict or increase their food intake to exhib...

OBJECTIVE This study tests the validity of the "dietary-depressive" subtype (typified by greater negative affect) and a "dietary" subtype (typified by dietary restraint only) using a diverse longitudinal community sample. METHOD Girls at ages 10, 12, and 14 completed the Child Eating Attitudes Test, the Child Symptom Inventory-4, and Body Image Measure. Body Mass Index was assessed at each ag...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW We summarized recent literature on the epidemiology and treatment of eating disorders in middle-aged and older women and men. RECENT FINDINGS The prevalence of eating disorders according to DSM-5 criteria is around 3.5% in older (>40 years) women and around 1-2% in older men. The majority of those eating disordered persons are not in treatment. There are new terms like 'peri...

This article provides a model for understanding the role positive body image can play in the treatment of eating disorders and methods for guiding patients away from symptoms and toward flourishing. The Attuned Representational Model of Self (Cook-Cottone, 2006) and a conceptual model detailing flourishing in the context of body image and eating behavior (Cook-Cottone et al., 2013) are discusse...

This study investigated whether engaging in mindfulness following food consumption produced changes in affect and body satisfaction, as compared to a control distraction task. The moderating effects of eating pathology and neuroticism were also examined. A total of 110 female university students consumed food and water before engaging in either a mindfulness induction or a control distraction t...

Research findings from the past decade regarding the association of type 1 diabetes mellitus and eating disorders are critically reviewed in this paper. Although there has been much debate regarding the specificity of this association, a recent large multisite case-controlled study demonstrated that the prevalence rates of both full syndrome and subthreshold eating disorders among adolescent an...

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that often persists in adulthood. It is defined by inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity. ADHD is associated with many comorbidities, including eating disorders (EDs). In the last decade, studies have reported that ADHD is linked with binge EDs, bulimia nervosa, and anorexia nervosa. Many postulates have bee...

OBJECTIVE Weight- and shape-related self-evaluation refers to the process whereby an individual determines her self-worth based on an evaluation of her body weight and shape. This is a hallmark feature of both anorexia and bulimia nervosa, as specified in the 4th ed. of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The purpose of this study was to further our understanding of weigh...

Depression is one of the most common mental health disorders seen in adolescence. Low self-esteem, lack of social support and poor body image have been found to be risk factors for depression. However, these risk factors have not adequately explained why adolescent female rates of depressive episodes rise to almost twice that of males. This study had three purposes. The first is to identify the...