Anorexia nervosa

Extreme Celebrity Diets- by Katie Funk

Extreme Celebrity Diets- by Katie Funk

We see it everyday on TV, in magazines, or on the Internet. Stories of extreme weight loss among celebrities are given major attention in the media. These people are praised and celebrated for their new “healthy” lifestyles and their decreasing dress size, and are presented as role models for our youth. But I can’t help but wonder if these stories are only adding to the unrealistic ideals we hold about weight and body type. Take Jennifer Hudson. She is the spotlight of diet and health in Hollywood right now, and because of her…Read more
A Skeleton With Skin- By Lee Harmon

A Skeleton With Skin- By Lee Harmon

Last week I was doing some research on recent discoveries or studies done on eating disorders. I came across a website that featured a French woman who has since died from complications with anorexia. She was a model, and there were many beautifully taken photos of her; however, her painfully emaciated body was all that I could focus on. She was literally nothing but flesh and bones, her sharp features made even sharper by her nonexistent body fat. She looked like a skeleton with skin. The crazy thing was that I felt two…Read more
Why I Don’t Weigh Myself (If I Can Help It)- By Lee Harmon

Why I Don’t Weigh Myself (If I Can Help It)- By Lee Harmon

I try hard not to weigh myself anymore. It’s not as easy as it may seem, but I find that I am a much more content person if I don’t know what I weigh. When I do know what I weigh, I seem to be more obsessed than ever about numbers. If I am above or below my “ideal” weight it’s the only thing I can think about. So I avoid scales. Sort of.   It’s a bit like trying to avoid alcohol. Even if I am abstaining from alcohol, it still exists…Read more

How Does a Mother of Three Get High School Skinny? By Lee Harmon

I was driving down the road the other day and I saw something that had me super confused. It was a giant billboard of a beautiful, blonde woman showing off her flat, tanned stomach. On the billboard was the question “How did this mother of three get high school skinny?” And of course there was a business name and a 1-800 number to call. High school skinny? What does that mean? My brain was flooded with all sorts of conflicting emotions. At first I thought the obvious – How DOES a mother of…Read more

Living With an Eating Disorder- By Lee Harmon

I find that living with an eating disorder is like having a cruel, critical voice living inside you. The voice is constantly making comments about how you look and what you eat or don’t eat. I find that I am always in conflict with this voice, because even though I know that what it is telling me is harmful, it is very persuasive. It tells me not to eat breakfast. It tells me to not eat bread or pasta – ever. It tells me I won’t be attractive to men if I have…Read more

Social Media and Eating Disorders- By Jamie Zabludowski

Many parents are under the impression that they can save their teens from the attractions of sex, drugs, and pro-eating disorders by simply turning off their televisions or moving to a secluded island. Of course, anyone can use the parental control settings on a TV to block certain commercials and programs, but what about computers? What about social media? It sounds like things are getting a little more complicated to stop kids from binging, purging, and restricting. The “model thin” image is advertised on all different social media platforms. In June 2010, a study by…Read more
How Black Swans Feed Their Young

How Black Swans Feed Their Young

By Susan B. Krevoy, Ph.D. How many of us have an unhealthy split between our light side and our dark side? The movie “Black Swan” brilliantly depicts the difficulty in integrating the different parts of ourselves. Don’t we all have a “white swan” in us? It’s our “good” positive feelings of hope, love, kindness, humility, generosity, and compassion. And don’t we all have a “black swan” inside of us as well? These are our “bad” negative feelings of anger, envy, greed, arrogance, false pride, resentment, and self-pity. The struggle we face is how…Read more
Learning to Communicate

Learning to Communicate

Paulson V Veliyannoor, MS Pre-Doctoral Intern/ Clinical Staff Susan B Krevoy Eating Disorder Program Khalil Gibran famously wrote in The Prophet: “In speech, truth is half-murdered.” Well, there is much truth in this statement. Yet the inability to speak may leave the truth fully murdered with its remains leaking through the pores of one’s being. An Eating Disorder is one such leakage which results from, among other things, the difficulty to verbalize one’s needs and feelings. In other words, eating disorder is one form of maladaptive communication. Learning to communicate, then, is one of…Read more
A Cultural Perspective on Gender and Eating Disorders in Group Therapy By: Stephen L Salter, Psy.D

A Cultural Perspective on Gender and Eating Disorders in Group Therapy By: Stephen L Salter, Psy.D

When I began running groups at the SBK Eating Disorders Program, I wasn’t surprised to find I’d be working primarily with women.  I was aware that the epidemic hit women three times harder than men, but I wasn’t sure why.  I knew larger social forces were at play.  After all, The United States fosters more eating disorders than any country in the world.  Many point to the flooding of media images—unrealistic, unhealthy, and grossly underweight ideals of what it mean to be beautiful.  Is it possible to avoid these external influences? Why not…Read more