Recently in Featured websites Category

I’ve just come across this excellent blog by a trainee psychiatrist based in London. Wide ranging topics, from John Prescott’s struggle with bulimia, to a summary of general paralysis of the insane (the tertiary form of untreated syphillis, in which mental functions are severely affected).

And then of course there’s the song by the Avalanches of the same name.

I just wanted to give a quick mention to the website for Psychologies Magazine which has recently been revamped. Psychologies is a magazine mainly aimed at women which aims to present psychological ideas in an accessible way and to be an alternative to the usual women's magazine's full of skinny models and celeb gossip. The website includes lots of additional features including discussion boards and the 'Ask the Experts' section where you can have your questions answered by professionals including yours truly.

Lori Henry has let me know about her Suite 101 site dealing with eating disorders and related issues. Suite 101 is a portal containing microsites written by freelance authors on a wide range of subjects. Lori covers basic information on eating disorders as well as recent news on eating disorder related topics. There's also a discussion board where you can raise issues and get support.

Just a quick reminder that the excellent SomethingFishy website has lots of useful tips for helping to get through the holidays.

Travis Matthews is a trainee psychotherapist and film-maker based in San Francisco. He has recently finished a film, entitled 'Do I look Fat' dealing with issues of weight and eating amongst gay men.

Travis says:
'Do I Look Fat? is a feature-length documentary with fat on the brain -fat that we feel, fat that we think and all sorts of fat problems that manifest from fat-phobic thinking inside the fat-wary gay community. As one person puts it, "fat is the little word with big meaning." '

Through interviews with a number of gay men as well as several professionals, Travis tries to unpick some of the issues which might lead to eating problems in this group.

I haven't yet managed to see the film, but it sounds like a great project. You can find out more about the film and the filmmaker at the film website.

Joanna Poppink, Marriage & Family Therapist and Eating Disorder Recovery Specialist runs an excellent website with a wide range of resources available for people struggling with eating disorders. She recently let me know that she has updated the academic and professional eating disorder research page on the site. The new version incorporates a facility for researchers to post descriptions of their research and project needs, including requests for participants. The service is free.

If you want to post details of your project, begin by going to the home page. After you agree to the terms of use, click on "Academic and Professional Research" in the contents on the left.

Sorry to mention Christmas when it's still only October (In fact I saw my first Christmas tree of the year in a health club about three weeks ago!). But it's for a good cause. The Eating Disorders Association is the UK charity supporting those with eating disorders and their families and carers. The EDA are offering Christmas cards for sale. To buy some, visit their online shop

Andreas Karwautz, an eating disorders specialist based in Vienna, has developed a new website on eating disorders in German. The site includes information on scientific projects and treatment options offered in Vienna and links to all institutions dealing with treatment. It also has a large section describing a range of German-language internet sites, reviewing and evaluating them from the point of view of professionals, patients, etc.

Austrian psychiatrist and eating disorders researcher Andreas Karawautz has informed me that he has developed a new website on eating disorders in German. The site includes information on scientific projects and treatment options offered in Vienna, links to all institutions dealing with treatment and a large section describing German-speaking websites on eating disorders, reviewing these from the point of view of professionals, patients, etc.

Do check out the site at www.karwautz.at

I have been meaning for some time to mention the Campaign for Real Beauty started by Dove. They are aiming to question conventional standards of beauty i.e. that to be beautiful women must be thin, young, conventional etc. You may have seen their ads on the tube which have captions like 'fit or fat?', 'grey or gorgeous', next to pictures of women who are often stunning looking, although perhaps not in a conventional sense. Of course the aim of the campaign is to sell more soap, but I did think it was a hopeful step which might encourage other advertisers to use a broader range of images of women in their campaigns. And it seems to provoke debate, at least judging by the number of scrawled comments on the escalator ads I've seen. Although I've often wondered how people have time to write anything as they are zooming up or down past a poster!

The website is nicely designed and opens with an online poll. Then you can get access to forums discussing beauty and body image (i.e. weight), unconventional looks and older women.