Summary: <p>Eating Disorders Assessment<br> Part 1<br> Instructor: Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes, PhD, LPC, LMHC<br> Podcast Host: Counselor Toolbox & Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery<br> Objectives<br> ~ Review the prevalence of eating disorders<br> ~ Identify assessment areas<br> ~ Identify risk and protective factors<br> ~ Explore complications<br> ~ Explore potential guidelines for treatment</p> <p>~ Based on APA Guidelines for Eating Disorders, the NICE Guidelines for Eating Disorder Recognition and Treatment, and the NEDA Coach and Trainer’s Toolkit<br> Prevalence of Eating Disorders<br> ~ 20% of women struggle with disordered eating<br> ~ 10-15% of people with eating disorders are male<br> ~ 40% of male football players were found to engage in disordered eating<br> ~ Muscle dysmorphia and body fat preoccupation is seen in a majority of bodybuilders and wrestlers<br> ~ 90% of people with eating disorders become symptomatic between 12 and 25</p> <p>Risk Factors<br> ~ The exact causes of anorexia nervosa are unknown. However, the condition sometimes runs in families; young women with a parent or sibling with an eating disorder are likelier to develop one themselves.<br> ~ People with anorexia come to believe that their lives would be better if only they were thinner.<br> ~ These people tend to be perfectionists and overachievers.<br> ~ The typical person with anorexia is a good student involved in school and community activities.<br> ~ Many experts think that anorexia is part of an unconscious attempt to come to terms with unresolved conflicts or painful childhood experiences.<br> ~ While sexual abuse has been shown to be a factor in the development of bulimia, it is not associated with the development of anorexia.</p> <p>Risk Factors<br> ~ Biological factors may include an abnormal biochemical make up of the brain<br> ~ The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) is responsible for releasing certain neurotransmitters including serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine, which regulate stress, mood, and appetite.<br> ~ People with eating disorders tend to have lower levels of serotonin and norephinephrine<br> ~ Starving, bingeing and purging in and of themselves can alter brain chemistry<br> ~ Both undereating and overeating can activate brain chemicals that produce feelings of peace and euphoria, thus temporarily dispelling anxiety and depression. Leading some to conclude that food is used to self-medicate painful feelings and distressing moods.<br> ~ New research suggests that there is a biological link between stress and the drive to eat. Comfort foods — high in sugar, fat, and calories — seem to calm the body’s response to chronic stress.<br> Risk Factors<br> ~ Psychological Risk Factors<br> ~ Low self-worth and low-self esteem /Feelings of inadequacy<br> ~ Obsessive behaviors regarding food and diets and may often also display obsessive-compulsive personality traits in other parts of their life.<br> ~ A strong, even extreme drive for perfectionism.<br> ~ They have unrealistic expectations of themselves and others<br> ~ In spite of their many achievements, they feel inadequate.<br> ~ They see the world dichotomously<br> ~ individuals who develop anorexia are led to think that they are never thin enough regardless of how much weight is lost.<br> ~ Negative affect: depression, anxiety, anger, stress or loneliness<br> ~ A sense of lack of control in life<br> Risk Factors<br> ~ Psychological Risk Factors<br> ~ Wanting to take control and fix things in an unhappy life, but not really knowing how, and under the influence of a culture that equates success and happiness with thinness, the person tackles her/his body instead of the problem at hand.<br> ~ Dieting, bingeing, purging, exercising, and other strange behaviors are not random craziness, but misguided and ineffective, attempts to take charge in a world that seems overwhelming.<br> Risk Factors<br> ~ In</p>
