New Rules Promise Better Mental Health Coverage

By ROBERT PEAR

Published: January 29, 2010
New York Times

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration issued new rules on Friday that promise to improve insurance coverage of mental health care for more than 140 million people insured through their jobs.

Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, said the new rules guard against “needless or arbitrary limits.”

In general, under the rules, employers and group health plans cannot provide less coverage for mental health care than for the treatment of physical conditions like cancer and heart disease.

Insurers cannot set higher co-payments and deductibles or stricter limits on treatment for mental illness and addiction disorders. Nor can they establish separate deductibles for mental health care and for the treatment of physical illnesses....finish article

Share your thoughts with Eating Disorder Hope and our followers on our blog

Eating Disorders Coalition to Lobby on Capitol Hill

Forwarded in support of the work of the Eating Disorders Coalition

Join Us on Capitol Hill and Make a Difference - Come to the EDC Lobby Day, April 26th & 27th, 2010

Think only paid lobbyists can influence policy makers? Think again! As a constituent with an important message to share - you too can influence federal policy. Join the Eating Disorders Coalition for our April Lobby Day on Capitol Hill in Washington DC where your voice will make a difference. This is one of the most important events all year -- and an exciting opportunity to meet directly with your elected officials or their staff about legislation that will impact all those affected by eating disorders.

If this is your first time joining us don't worry; we'll prep you beforehand by teaching you about lobbying and what to expect We will also review the first ever comprehensive eating disorders bill in Congress: the Federal Response to Eliminate Eating Disorders Act (the FREED Act) - for which we will advocate. This bill will provide research funding, prevention grants, and treatment options that will save lives! So there is no need to worry that you don't know what you are doing. During training you will be able to ask questions, practice lobbying and get comfortable speaking up before heading to the halls of Congress.

Hear it from the advocates first hand: "Lobbying on the hill September 24, 2009 was definitely an experience that I will never forget and one that I’m proud to say that I was a part of. I didn’t know what to expect going into the day and was put at ease with the help of the members of the EDC, group leaders and even the other first time lobbyists. The training sessions prior to lobbying were helpful to understand how to effectively lobby and what it all entailed. We were able to role play sitting with Members of Congress to clarify what we were going to say and how the meeting would operate. . .

Fortunately, the responses we received in each of the meetings were positive for the most part. We were even able to convince Keith Ellison to co-sponsor the FREED Act before leaving his office. [How great] to see that kind of response and know that your words are truly making an impact." RSVP today to make this kind of impact.

"Thank you for organizing such a great Lobby Day, I was really impressed by the number and caliber of people who took part. I am looking forward to getting even more involved with the EDC . . . I find the EDC so inspirational." - Jocelyn, April 2009 Lobby Day participant.

Pro Anorexia Sites on the rise

AUTHOR Alana Cook
~ Martlet.ca

While anorexia nervosa is recognized as a serious and often fatal
psychological disease, several studies out this year have shown a
steady rise in pro-ana (pro-anorexic) and pro-mia (pro-bulimic)
websites.

Portraying eating disorders as a method of self-control rather than
self-destruction, their controversial message is rapidly spreading to
an increasingly younger Internet generation; one already obsessed with
an unrealistic perception of beauty...finish article here

Eating Disorder Hope and our blog followers would enjoy hearing your
opinion on this article! Please share your thoughts and concerns.

I, Jacquelyn, am saddened by the "perfect image" media onslaught directed toward our young people in their developmental years. I find this so destructive to our young women and men. We have to speak out more often, encourage a much broader paradigm of beauty, success and health. What do you think? Blog Now

Eating Disorders and Other Stressors Impact College Students!

Tribune-Review
Students' use of college counseling on the rise
By Bob Stiles
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, January 24, 2010

More college students are feeling stressed out. Students are reporting more stress than a decade ago -- or even during the Great Depression -- and more are seeking counseling, according to recent studies and mental-health professionals. "Generally, with the fast-paced society, I think people have more stressors than they did before," said Terri Bassi-Cook, director of Counseling, Disability and Health Services at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, where the number of students seeking counseling has increased by about 50 percent during the past few years.

"It's a different world than it was even a decade ago," Bassi-Cook said. "These students have grown up with awareness of the Virginia Tech situation, the 9/11 tragedies, and that has shaped them. I think they feel less of a sense of safety. I think they feel more vulnerable in the world than they did before."

More college students are feeling stressed out. Students are reporting more stress than a decade ago -- or even during the Great Depression -- and more are seeking counseling, according to recent studies and mental-health professionals. "Generally, with the fast-paced society, I think people have more stressors than they did before," said Terri Bassi-Cook, director of Counseling, Disability and Health Services at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, where the number of students seeking counseling has increased by about 50 percent during the past few years. "It's a different world than it was even a decade ago," Bassi-Cook said. "These students have grown up with awareness of the Virginia Tech situation, the 9/11 tragedies, and that has shaped them. I think they feel less of a sense of safety. I think they feel more vulnerable in the world than they did before."...finish article at: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_663795.html#

Check out what some Universities are doing to address Eating Disorders on College Campuses Nationwide @ http://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/college-hope.html

Relapse and Recovery from Eating Disorders

In our society, we rely on expressions such as “Rome wasn’t build in a day,” to serve as reminders of the truth. Obviously this city wasn’t built in a day or even a year – it took a significant amount of time. The truth is…most things of great value or import do take time and effort. Recovery from an eating disorder is no different. An occasional slip back into the behavior or total relapse can occur....

Falling back into old eating disordered behaviors is a slip, relapse is fully embracing the eating disordered behaviors, again, as a lifestyle.

Recovery is taking it one day at time, realizing you can recommit to health, life and well being at any point and get back into recovery...

Find resources on Relapse at: http://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/relapse-and-eating-disorders

Self Intervention

Her fragile fingers fumble inside her pockets, searching for warmth she cannot find. Overwhelmed and ambushed, she sits nervously. Surrounded by a circle of her loved ones, tears stream down their cheeks as they read letters filled with love, hope, and concern. Words she longed to hear her entire life finally spoken. Her pain realized.

But help does not always come. Loved ones do not always know what to do, what to say, how to act. Sometimes, we are so adept at hiding our behavior that no one notices that we may be in danger. Some of us isolate ourselves to conceal our struggle. For those of us who are not confronted, we must become our own advocates. We must stand up for ourselves.

Self-Intervention is having the courage to admit to yourself that there just may be a better way. It is listening to that inner voice, however quiet it may be, that cries out for your help. When you are recovered, it will be one of the things you look back on and are most proud of. The moment you decided to fight.

Finding the right treatment can be a daunting undertaking. Rader Programs include Inpatient, Outpatient, structured Daycare Sessions, Continuing Care and Family treatment programs to suit each individual's particular needs. You will act as an integral part of your treatment team; your voice will be heard. All you have to do, is reach out...

It's not your fault.
You're not alone.
We can help.

Check out Rader Program's new blog at: http://www.raderprograms.com/jenns-blog

Free Teleconference with Thom Rutledge

Free Teleconference with Thom Rutledge

Free Teleconference with Thom Rutledge
For Immediate release
Contact: Shannon Cutts Phone: 713-906-9888
Email: mc@key-to-life.com
MentorCONNECT www.key-to-life.com/mentorconnect

Thom Rutledge, co-author of the best-selling eating disorders recovery book “Life Without Ed”, presents a FREE eating disorders teleconference on “What You Can Really Do About Your Eating Disorder” for MentorCONNECT [DATE] – Internationally-recognized therapist, author, speaker, and trainer Thom Rutledge will present a FREE teleconference on Wednesday, February 17, 2009, at 8pm central time. All are welcome to attend. RSVP’s are required.

This event is sponsored by MentorCONNECT, the first global eating disorders mentoring organization. Based in Houston since its inception in September 2007, MentorCONNECT now has a presence in 32 USA states and 12 countries, and has sponsored free events featuring such notable authors and speakers as Miss America 2009 Kirsten Haglund, Jessica Setnick, Jenni Schaefer, Dr. Carolyn Becker, Doris Smeltzer, and others.

Event Details: To Register: Send an email with “RSVP for Thom” to mc@key-to-life.com RSVP Deadline: February 17th at noon For More Info: Contact MentorCONNECT at 713-906-9888 or mc@key-to-life.com View Event Flyer: You may also view the event flyer online at www.key-to-life.com More About Thom Rutledge: Thom Rutledge is the author of several books, including Embracing Fear: How to Turn What Scares Us into Our Greatest Gift. His INTRApersonal Therapy methods are used extensively by outpatient and residential eating disorder treatment programs in the U.S. and Australia. Thom’s next Beyond Eating Disorders Weekend Retreat is scheduled for March 12-14, 2010.

More About MentorCONNECT: MentorCONNECT is the first global online eating disorders mentoring community. Membership and all services are always free to members, and certain events are also opened up to the larger community. In addition to offering one-on-one mentoring matches, membership includes access to a password-protected, moderated, PRO-recovery community forum with two live weekly e-support groups and one Houston-based book study support group, periodic retreats and special events, a wide variety of online themed support groups, recovery blogs, personalized profile pages, the ability to upload photos / video / songs / artwork, and moderated chat / email services.

To volunteer your services as a caring mentor, be matched with a mentor, or find general support, visit us at www.key-to-life.com/mentorconnect.

The Elisa Project Names Timberline Knolls CEO James Gresham to Board of Directors

DALLAS, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The Elisa Project, a Dallas-based organization dedicated to educating individuals, families and the medical community about eating disorders and the importance of positive body image, has named James Gresham, Timberline Knolls' chief executive officer, to its Board of Directors. Timberline Knolls (TK) is a Chicago-based residential treatment center offering an environment of recovery for women ages 12 and older struggling to overcome eating disorders, substance abuse, mood disorders and co-occurring disorders. Gresham joins 14 other Elisa Project board members who serve to guide the 11-year-old organization.

"James brings to The Elisa Project his passionate leadership to help families and their loved ones who are struggling with eating disorders," said Todd Betanzos, President at The Elisa Project. "As a founding investor and CEO at Timberline Knolls, James has developed broader insurance options for families, increased the breadth of recovery programs, and supplemented the admissions process to provide parents and other family members with more information to help them make better decisions at a critical time in their lives. We are confident that his distinguished record as a leader and administrator will help to guide our organization to make a real difference."

In 1999, Rick and Leslie McCall founded The Elisa Project, a non-profit organization, to provide individuals and their loved ones with education and support. Their daughter, Elisa, was a vibrant 20-year-old college student who, like many her age, suffered the pain of an eating disorder and recorded her struggle in her personal journal. She had hoped to reach out to others, but found her own struggle too great and ultimately took her own life. The publication of her journal has inspired many in her community to rally around the cause of combating eating disorders. That is Elisa's great legacy. Those involved work to increase community awareness of the disease, promote recognition of the warning signs, encourage those battling an eating disorder to seek treatment and provide objective information to families regarding the availability of appropriate professional services locally and farther afield.

Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center was founded in 2005 with a team of compassionate psychiatrists, psychologists and clinicians dedicated to helping adolescent girls and women achieve full lives. Since becoming Timberline Knolls CEO, James Gresham has teamed together a group of medical experts in the treatment of eating and co-occurring disorders, chemical dependency and mood disorders who realize and see the critical need for a new type of treatment center that combines excellence in psychiatric care with awareness of the realities of recovery. From this vision, Timberline Knolls serves its residents, bringing new life not only to the women who are treated but their families.

About The Elisa Project

The organization works to increase community awareness of the disease, promote recognition of the warning signs, encourage those battling an eating disorder to seek treatment, and provide objective information to families regarding the availability of appropriate professional services both locally and farther afield. For more information visit: TEP@TheElisaProject.org or call 214.369.5222.

About Timberline Knolls

Timberline Knolls is a residential treatment center located on 43 Beautiful acres just outside Chicago, offering a nurturing environment of recovery for women ages 12 and older struggling to overcome eating disorders, substance abuse, mood disorders and co-occurring disorders. By serving with uncompromising care, relentless compassion and an unconditional joyful spirit, we help our residents help themselves in their recovery. For more information visit www.timberlineknolls.com or call 877.257.9611.

Refeeding Syndrome


Why Can't You Just Eat?!

@ Rader Programs




Forks scrape the faces of plates; bare tines are pulled through their lips. The sounds and smells of food hang heavy in the air. Dinner disappears from in front of family members; his disperses over the patient plate; spread out and mashed and sliced and diced, but there, still there, again. Shifting uncomfortably in his chair, knowing they know he's not eating, his eyes sink into spaghetti. His parents and siblings 
share sharp worried glances. Fear for his health, happiness, and life, his father finally erupts, "Why can't you just eat?!"


It can be extremely sad and stressful to watch someone you love dying before your eyes. Anorexia Nervosa is frightening to witness. Concern, ignorance, and feelings of helplessness can lead to this kind of outburst. In the past, this was a much more common reaction to people with eating disorders. Thankfully, advancements in research, education, treatment, and technology, in addition to the media's 
fascination with eating disorders (particularly Anorexia Nervosa), have contributed to a more widespread understanding that recovery generally requires medical and psychological treatment. However, with males, sadly there may still be more of a tendency to overlook an eating disorder and to direct frustration toward the individual himself. Further awareness, will hopefully bring earlier, more 
compassionate intervention to this population.


Although many people now know that there are complex psychological reasons why eating disorders cannot be so simply addressed, it is also important to remember that for severely malnourished individuals, most often associated with Anorexia Nervosa, medical monitoring may be required to "just eat". Steps must be taken to avoid Refeeding Syndrome, a serious, potentially life-threatening complication that can arise during the initial stages of receiving nutritional support. When the body is depleted of essential vitamins and minerals, sudden changes in electrolytes can shock the system. While restoring these levels, it is critical to ensure that slow, gradual increases of nutritional support are provided. Serum electrolytes (such as potassium, magnesium, and phosphorus), fluid balance, and proper organ function must be carefully monitored. The Rader Program can assist with this delicate process.

Find this and more interesting articles at: Jen's Blog

Normative Discontent

“Planting Insidious Seeds”

@ Rader Programs

Standing alone, beside bright white lights affixed around a mounted mirror, the soft, silky fabric flows down her legs to the tops of her toes. The dress is breathtaking. Pale pink with tiny, shiny beads threaded along the hem. The muscles in her arm begin to burn from tugging, yanking, pulling at the stubborn zipper. It does not budge. Over her shoulder, she stares at her back in the mirror, catching her breath and resting her arm before attempting again. The deep, open V exposes her skin.

From the dressing room beside her, derogatory comments dart through the door. "Oh my God, I have gained so much weight! I hate my thighs/hips/stomach! I can't believe I don't fit into a size x anymore!! I need to go on a diet. I'm so fat!"

Discontent with different body parts drips down the walls, into each and every room. Hearing these words, feeling them seep through the space just below the ceiling, invading her privacy, the open zipper suddenly seems like a personal failure. Maybe it was not that the dress did not fit, maybe she did not fit into the dress....


The Rader Programs, which includes Body Image and Sexuality Groups, addresses how our culture and society can affect our relationships with food, our bodies, and eating disorders.

Finish article at Jen's Blog

Drawing for Free book: Not All Black Girls Know How to Eat

ENTER DRAWING
Please complete the contact form, linked above, and enter book drawing in message, then you will automatically be entered into our February 5th, 2010 drawing to win this book!

Not All Black Girls Know How to Eat: A Story of Bulimia (Lawrence Hill Books, an imprint of Chicago Review Press, August 2009) ~ by Stephanie Covington Armstrong.

A raw, compelling memoir that describes the author’s struggle as a black woman with a disorder that is consistently portrayed as a white woman’s problem. Not All Black Girls Know How to Eat traces Armstrong’s upbringing during the 1970s in the rough Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. She grew up poor and hungry in a single-parent household, and foster care, sexual abuse and overwhelming insecurity defined her early years.

“Covington Armstrong's story emboldens women of all colors who might otherwise have
remained quiet to voice their lived experiences with food.” —Ms. Magazine

Dating site for beautiful people expels 'fatties' after holiday weight gain

Article by Mallory Simon, CNN

January 4, 2010 6:52 p.m. EST

This is a disturbing reflection of internationally distorted values and discounting the inner worth and character of each individual. What do you think?

Read at: http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/personal/01/04/dating.site.overweight/index.html

Share your thoughts on the EDH blog at: http://eatingdisorderhope.blogspot.com/

Participate in a study looking at family dynamics and eating disorders

Please take this survey on family relationships so that we can better understand eating disorders. Upon completion of the survey, you can enter into a lottery drawing for the chance to win up to $100.

Survey: http://alliant.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_4JDUgx3qLXexGUQ&SVID=Prod

We would like to invite you to participate in a study we are conducting looking at family dynamics and eating disorders. This research is being conducted by Kathleen M. Lanflisi, MA of the Clinical Psychology Department at Alliant International University in Fresno, CA as part of the PhD dissertation. Siobhan K. O’Toole, PhD is the licensed psychologist chairing and overseeing this research. Your cooperation and anonymous participation will be greatly valued.

By being at least 18 years of age, you qualify to be in this study. Your task will be to fill out several questionnaires which ask you questions about basic personal information (age, gender, etc.), personal characteristics, family dynamics, and eating behaviors. None of your individual ratings or information will ever be available to anyone besides our research team. Our first priority is the protection of your confidentiality. For that reason you are asked not to put your name on any of the enclosed materials. This will help ensure the anonymity of your responses. The only location we will ask for your name is at the end of the surveys should you choose to enter into lottery. Upon completion of the survey, you will have the chance to win one of four $25 Amazon gift cards or one of two $100 Amazon gift cards. Your name will not be associated or kept with your materials. All that is required in order to contact you, should you win one of the Amazon gift cards, is your email address.

Your participation is completely voluntary and poses very little risk to you. The primary risk is the possibility of experiencing distress while filling out these questionnaires. Should you experience any distress resulting from your participation in this study neither Alliant International University nor any of the individuals associated with the research project will be held liable for the costs incurred.

Please be assured that:

1)All American Psychological Association (APA) ethical standards will be followed including those for research with human participants

2)You can withdraw participation at anytime

3) If you choose not to participate or withdraw participation you will suffer no penalty of any kind.

4)Participation, non-participation, or withdrawal from participation will not affect your current treatment at all.

If you have any questions please contact: Kathleen Lanflisi, MA at klanflisi@alliant.edu or

Siobhan K. O’Toole, PhD at (559) 253-2309

*Read about more research on eating disorders at: http://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/research.html

2010 New Platinum Sponsor Announcement: Timberline Knolls

Eating Disorder Hope proudly announces the addition of our New Platinum Sponsor:

Timberline Knolls.

The staff of Timberline Knolls believe every woman has the potential to be the best she can be, even if she's been affected by an eating disorder, addiction, self-harming or other destructive behavior.

Timberline Knolls offers an innovative residential treatment center on 43 beautiful acres just outside of Chicago. They use an individualized, strengths-based approach to help create emotionally strong, responsible, radiant women who overcome problems, believe in themselves and have the ability to thrive in the real world.

At Timberline Knolls, they approach recovery a little differently. They combine clinical services, education and expressive therapies that enhance the continuum of their life-changing care. They design individualized programs to meet each woman's needs. Timberline Knolls believes this is one key reason so many women have found success in their program.

Please take a look at the excellent programs offered through Timberline Knolls today!