Does Your Child Or Spouse Have An Eating Disorder? If They Did, Would You Know?

Main Category: Eating Disorders
Also Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry;  Public Health
Article Date: 27 Sep 2007 - 0:00 PDT

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Nearly 10 million women and one million men suffer from diagnosed eating disorders; many more have symptoms that have yet to be clinically identified and treated. How does one identify an eating disorder? How does a family mobilize to help an affected member and alleviate the tremendous strain on relationships?

These and other questions will be addressed by families and renowned eating disorder professionals at the National Eating Disorder Association's (NEDA) Annual Conference October 4-6 at the Doubletree Hotel Mission Valley in San Diego. Open to the public, the two-day conference will feature programs designed specifically for both families and eating disorder treatment professionals. A special half-day Educators Seminar will take place Thursday, October 4, to provide teachers, administrators and nurses in K-12 schools with information on how to identify students at risk and help them get treatment.

Featured speakers include Chandra Czape Turner, executive editor, COSMOGirl!, who will talk about the role and responsibility of the media to promote a healthy body image among girls and women; Walter H. Kaye, MD, professor of psychiatry, UC San Diego and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and eating disorder expert; Michael Strober, PhD, director, Eating Disorders Program and Adolescent Mood Disorders Program at the Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCLA and Jessica Weiner, motivational speaker, author, and Global Ambassador for the Dove Self-Esteem Fund.

Some of the nearly 40 programs include:

-- My Child has an Eating Disorder: How Can I Help?

-- Trials, Tribulations and Triumphs: The Journey of a Loved One to Recovery

-- Adult Children with Eating Disorders: The Parents' Role

-- Eating Disorders Do Not Discriminate: Understanding Cultural Factors

-- Promoting Positive Body Image at Every Size for Eating Disorder Prevention and Treatment

Dr. Walter Kaye of UCSD, who will release new research findings this week demonstrating that the sense of taste in women with anorexia is different from those who don't have the eating disorder, will lead a panel discussion on "What Parents Need to Know: New Understandings on the Causes and Treatments of Eating Disorders" at 2 p.m., Friday, October 5.

National Eating Disorder Association
http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org