Dr. Gupta is a licensed psychologist and professor at Barnard College, Columbia University. She specializes in the treatment of anxiety and eating/weight issues at Tribeca Psychology in NYC
Many young women with an eating disorder will at some point wonder how their struggles with eating may relate to their ability to have a child in the future. A new study released online over the weekend examined how rates of miscarriage, abortion, and successful childbirth differed among women who suffered from an eating disorder compared to the general population.
When most people binge eat, they do so alone and feelings of shame often preclude them from talking openly about it. This makes it difficult for the average person to get a sense of how their binge eating might compare to others. A new research study sought to pinpoint what a typical binge eating episode is like in terms of how long it lasts and when it usually happens.
Given that food is a necessary part of our everyday life, it's natural to daydream about the next meal or snack. While some people think about food only minutes before eating, others are constantly preoccupied with food thoughts via planning, cooking, or needing hours to consume a meal. Such constant preoccupation can become frustrating. What happens when people purposefully try to suppress thoughts about food? A new study examined the relationship between binge eating and food thought suppression.
In the moments when people are binge eating or purging, they are often alone with a computer nearby. Quick internet searches can lead to support in the form of online forums, blogs, and new research (like this site). Can therapy, either individually or as part of a group, serve as an effective new tool that could be conveniently available online? A few new studies released online this month explore the current status of online treatments.
When seeking help for binge eating and bulimia, much like with other mental health issues, we assume that licensed professionals will provide treatment that’s based on the latest research. Yet, that’s often not the case. New research released online yesterday sought to explain why there is such a divide between scientific research and the practice of therapy in the field of eating disorders.
While we have promising treatments available for binge eating and bulimia, not everyone responds to them. Some people respond quickly and are able to reduce their binge eating and purging within a couple months while others are in treatment much longer or instead drop out. Two new studies looked at women who were either in weekly outpatient therapy or in a hospital day program to see what factors predicted who responded quickly or who dropped out.
Do you ever find yourself combining random foods together when binge eating? This phenomenon, called concocting, has been observed among people who are starving, but rarely investigated among people who binge eat. A new study released online yesterday found that concocting helped distinguish binge eating from general overeating.
Strong food cravings and changing eating habits are normal experiences during pregnancy. For some women, however, the changes may be indicative of an eating disorder. A research study released online last week examined rates of binge eating and purging among women to find out how many of them developed, or recovered from, an eating disorder while pregnant.
How do we draw the line between binge eating, soon to be recognized as a unique eating disorder, and more general overeating? A group of researchers just released a new study examining a key difference between these types of eating - feeling a loss of control while eating.
Many programs claim they can help you reduce binge eating and lose weight, but they often don't have any research to back up that claim. Researchers in the United States and Switzerland just released two independent studies comparing different treatments for binge eating disorder. They examined how well therapy and/or medication helped reduce binge eating, not just in the first few weeks, but months and years after treatment ends.
September 3, 2013