Eating Disorders Week, Feb. 24 to March 3
Research & Treatment Available at the NY State Psychiatric Institute
| New York, NY (February 19, 2002)— The media
is chock-full of images and stories about eating disorders and their
impact on the general public. Karen Carpenter, arguably one of the most
famous people with anorexia, eventually sought treatment for her illness,
but her early death is believed to be a result of the ravages of years of
self-induced starvation.
Anorexia is only one of the three disorders that make up the category of Eating Disorders for which patients can receive treatment or gain participation in research at the Eating Disorders Clinic at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Anorexia, together with bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder, affects roughly 5-10% of women. Sufferers, in pursuit of thinness, may abuse laxatives or exercise excessively to dramatically lose weight. Bulimia nervosa, the most common eating disorder, involves binging (excessive food consumption) and purging (forced vomiting). Binge eating disorder is characterized by uncontrolled eating without the purging. Although eating disorders are associated with underweight or normal-weight women, both men and women are affected almost equally in binge eating disorder. They also tend to be overweight or obese. Current studies at the Institute are investigating whether an addiction model is appropriate for understanding the development and possibly the treatment of eating disorders, whether the brain chemical serotonin works differently in people vulnerable to developing anorexia, and identifying the critical aspects of relapse prevention in patients with anorexia. Drs. Timothy Walsh and Evelyn Attia are just two of the researchers currently leading studies at the NY State Psychiatric Institute. Please call the Office of Public Information at (212) 543-5421 to arrange an interview. Visit us on the web at www.nyspi.org. Contact: Dacia Morris "Go Back to News Releases"
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