Our beautiful, complex, and changeable brains contain pathways to recovery that apparently have been hiding in plain sight, waiting for technology to catch up. The 2018 iaedp Symposium embraced technologic advances that are enabling eating disorders professionals to enlist patients in the effort to improve their treatment outcome. The neuroplasticity of the brain, or its ability to change its own structure and function in response to activity and mental experiences, can be used to change what may have once seemed hopeless and untreatable. Our lead article contains just a few highlights from Symposium 2018 and more will follow in the next issue.
Dr. Phil Mehler and colleagues reported “a substantial and troubling presence of medical complications” in the largest study of medical complications and EDs thus far. Dr. Mehler and colleagues studied 1026 adult inpatients and residential care patients admitted to the Eating Recovery Center in Denver from October 2012 to July 2015. See “Medical Complications: A Troubling Presence at Admission.”
The negative effects of pro-ana websites have been widely publicized. Studies of site visitors have shown a connection between viewing these sites and lower self-esteem, higher perceived body weight, and an increased chance of using methods to restrict weight. Although it seems counterintuitive, exposure to some of these sites might be beneficial in some ways, according to two recent studies. (See: Twitter’s Link to Pro-ana Sites.”)
And, finally, good news from our former publisher, Leigh Cohen, who announced that Gürze Books has been acquired by Turner Publishing Company, Nashville, TN.
—MKS
