September 2004 Archives
As some of you may know, long running Radio 4 soap opera The Archers is running a storyline about anorexia. It's raising quite a lot of interesting issues and debate. The Eating Disorders Association have set up a web page and message board to allow people to respond to the storyline.
The Academy of Eating Disorders Annual Conference will be held from April 27 - April 30, 2005 in Montreal, Canada. The AED abstract submission site is now open for paper, poster and workshop submissions.The submission deadline is October 31, 2004.
You can submit your abstract electronically via the abstract submission website.
Medical Management of Eating Disorders by C. Laird Birmingham and Pierre Beumont has just been published by Cambridge University Press. It covers medical complications and treatment of anorexia and related eating disorders. The book is aimed at health care professionals, but has particular sections aimed at GPs, nurses, carers and those with eating disorders themselves.
It's available from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com
You can also search for more books about eating disorders from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
The Government's Draft Mental Health Bill was published yesterday. The bill has been the subject of quite a bit of controversy because of two aspects.
The first is that it will potentially allow people with severe personality disorders to be detained if they are thought to be a danger to themselves or others. This has previously been difficult because personality disorders have been considered by some to be untreatable and detention under the Mental Health Act is only allowed for the purposes of assessment or treatment. In a change from the original 2002 draft bill, people with personality disorders will only be able to be detained if their doctors can satisfy a tribunal that they have a sound treatment plan.
The second controversial aspect is the plan for compulsory treatment order so that people in the community can be compelled to participate in treatment such as taking medication. The criteria for these Compulsory Treament Orders has been tightened since the original draft so that they can only be used with people who repeatedly relapse and need hospital admission.
