June 2006 Archives
In a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Walsh and colleagues studied women who had received psychotherapy for anorexia nervosa and reached the normal range for weight. They then compared fluoxetine (Prozac) and placebo in these women, who continued to receive weekly psychotherapy. The percentage of those remaining in recovery after 1 year was effectively the same in both the active and placebo groups (around 30%). This suggests that Prozac does not help to prevent relapse in anorexia. This finding is in contrast to a small study conducted by Kaye and colleagues in 1991 who suggested there might be a role for antidepressants like Prozac in preventing relapse.
Thanks to Joel Yager for drawing my attention to this (via the AED mailing list).
An interesting article in the BMJ discusses a proposed change to childhood obesity guidelines in the USA. Currently, children above the 95th percentile for body mass index (those who are heavier than 95% of children of their weight and height) are classified as 'overweight' and
children above the 85th percentile for BMI norms are classified as 'at risk
for overweight.' The proposed change would include all those above the 85th
percentile in the 'overweight' category. This would mean that around 25-40% of
children in the U.S. would be classified as overweight.
As mentioned in a discussion article on the Food Consumer website, one side effect of the changes would be that many more children would be 'diagnosed' as obese and therefore potentially eligible to be prescribed weight loss drugs. This has led to suggestions of pharmaceutical company pressure, especially as the International Obesity Task Force, one of the major organisations behind the proposal receives much of its funding from drug companies.
Thanks to Francie Berg via the AED mailing list for drawing my attention to this proposal.
An International Conference on Psychological Responses to Eating Disorders and Obesity 2006 will be held at the University of Hertfordshire on 5th & 6th July 2006
Cost for 2 days: £250 including lunch, refreshments and handout pack
Cost for 1 day: £145 including lunch, refreshments and handout pack
(£75 per day for self funders )
Keynote Speakers will include Chris Fairburn, Janet Treasure and Ian Campbell
For an application form, contact Barbara Scott on 01707 286508or email: b.1.scott@herts.ac.uk
The 14th International Conference on Eating Disorders will be held from 19th-21st October 2006 in Alpbach, Tirol,Austria. The deadline for abstract submission has been extended to 30th June. For more information, see the Netzwerk Essstoerungen (Austrian Eating Disorder Association) website
The Eating Disorders Association and SLAM-NHS Trust joint National Eating Disorders Carers Conference will be held this year at Guys Hospital in London on Sat 17th June. You can find details of this very popular conference on the EDA website where you can also download a booking form.
The American Psychiatric Association have just published the Third Edition of the American Psychiatric
Association Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Patients with Eating Disorders.
It's available online on the APA website. The equivalent in the UK is the guideline published by NICE (the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence) in January 04.
Apologies for the lack of posting over the last while. I have been busy having life events, most of them rewarding ones, all of them time consuming. Hope to get back to posting more regularly, both here and on my sister site, Mental Health Resources. Thank you for your patience!
