EXPERT ALERT: 

EATING DISORDERS AWARENESS WEEK, FEB. 27 TO MARCH 5
Look No Further; The NY State Psychiatric Institute Has the Experts

WHO: Dr. Timothy Walsh, Director , Dr. Evelyn Attia, Co-Director, Dr. Michael Devlin, Co-Director

WHAT: It’s Eating Disorders Awareness Week; It’s Time You Did a Story

WHERE: NYS Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Drive @ W. 165th St.

How far would you go to get a body to die for? Even when faced with the possibility of dying, some young girls who suffer from an eating disorder are reluctant to end their self-starvation. Eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder, affect roughly 5-10% of women. Anorexia has a mortality rate as high as that seen in any psychiatric disorder. Below are brief descriptions of the disorders studied and treated by experts at the New York State Psychiatric Institute’s Eating Disorders Program, which houses an inpatient research clinic and receives NIMH-funding:

Anorexia 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.

To find out more about the latest in treatment and research, contact our experts by calling (212) 543-5421 or 5420.

2/2005

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