Sunday, May 30, 2010

Elisa Project offers Girls In Motion Summer Camps

Upcoming Programs:
Gearing up for The Elisa Project's Girls in Motion Camps
Girls in Motion has become a part of The Elisa Project. Our summer camps provide girls ages 10-12 yrs old with a unique learning experience. Pre-adolescent girls are paired with trained female mentors for discussion and education about healthy body image, exercise and nutrition. Fun games, learning to make healthy snacks, and physical activity are a part of every day. Visit our website for details on registration and cost. For more details, click here.
Camp date and locations are as followed:
  • June 21st - June 25th 9am-12pm Greenhill School Addison, TX
  • June 28th - July 1st 9am-12pm J. Erik Jonsson Community School Dallas, TX
  • July 12th - July 15th 9am-12pm Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX
  • July 19th - July 22nd 9am- 12pm 1st Mexican Baptist Church, Buckner Family Services Dallas, TX
  • July 26th - July 29th 9am- 12pm Lake Highlands United Methodist Church New Room Dallas, TX
Mentors Wanted
CALLING ANY high school senior or college age women interested in being a mentor this summer? Visit our website for a mentor application. Call (214) 369-5222 or contact Diana Parada for more information.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Rader Programs Shares Body Image Obsession Symptoms


BODY IMAGE OBSESSION SYMPTOMS

Individuals suffering from eating disorders frequently have negative feelings about their body and are overly concerned about their body size and weight. They may participate in certain behaviors and hold particular beliefs that negatively reinforce a poor body image. The following is a partial list of some of the signs and symptoms of being overly effected by body image. If three of more of the following symptoms fit for you, you may be at risk of having your body image overly influence your life.

* Thoughts about “feeling fat”
* Feeling shameful and guilty about your body
* Avoidance of social situations that emphasis physical appearance
* Looking at others to see how your own body size compares to others
* Weight determines how good you feel about yourself
* What you weigh affects your relationships
* Pinching of body parts to measure fatness
* Checking of reflection in glass windows to see how your body looks
* Having special clothes that are used to make sure your body is certain size
* Having clothes that do not fit to entice self to loose weight
* Touching underneath the chin to check for a “double chin”
* Feeling you can not give a speech or make a presentation based on the way you look
* Missing school based on feeling you have gained weight
*Checking the diameter of the wrist for size maintenance
* Asking others about weight to compare your own weight to others
* Asking others about clothing size to compare your own clothing size to others
* Attempting to elicit comments from others about how fat you are
* Embarrassment about body weight
* Checking to see how close thighs are together when standing up
* Checking for cellulite in thighs
* Sucking in your stomach in front of a mirror to see what it looks like
* Preferring to only wear baggy clothes
* Pinching of cheeks to measure fatness
* Difficulty undressing in front of spouse or other loved ones
* Comparing own body to people on television, movies and magazines
* Checking to see it body parts giggle
* Checking to see if rings still fits as in the past
* Checking to make sure same belt hole is used as in the past
* Checking to see if you can feel your bones
* Weighing of self multiple times
* Fear of weighing oneself

Find Eating Disorder Treatment at Rader Programs

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Workshop for Professionals. Inside Look: Working with the Resistant Eating Disorder Patient & the Pharmacological Treatments for Addictive Disorders

July 23, 2010
Workshop for Professionals. An Inside Look: Working with the Resistant Eating Disorder Patient and the Pharmacological Treatments for Addictive Disorders
Bethesda, MD
co-hosted by Oliver-Pyatt Centers and Promises Treatment Centers, with presentations from Dr. Wendy Oliver-Pyatt and Dr. David Sack.

Eating disorders and addictive disorders often go hand in hand. This workshop will provide information and guidance on state of the art treatments as well as information on the identification of co-occurring psychiatric disorders. Topics include treatment resistance, FDA approved treatments for drug and alcohol dependency, and a review of novel treatments currently in development. This workshop will equip professionals with the most current approaches on the treatment of these disorders from a medical, psychological, and pharmacological perspective. 4 CEC's. For more information or to register, visit http://workshops.promises.com, or call 866-825-1104.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Support Eating Disorder Coalition efforts on Capitol Hill

(posted in support of the Eating Disorder Coalition and their work for eating disorder sufferers)


Couldn’t attend Lobby Day but are passionate about helping pass the FREED Act?

Join in our Post-Lobby Day Letter Writing Campaign!

Please Click to here for the EDC Letter Writing Campaign instructions and to get started!


Friday, May 21, 2010

Check out the exciting new Commentary on Culture & Eating Disorders Blog

Anxiety and Eating Disorders

written by: Fiona Place, Author of
Cardboard: A woman left for dead

Today I would like to take a look at the role of anxiety in eating disorders. I believe this is an important issue because although the experience of anxiety is extremely common amongst people with eating disorders it is often only given cursory attention. Often only seen as a ‘symptom’ to be managed rather than an experience to be understood.

In part this is because it is far easier to present or understand an eating disorder in terms of ‘a desire to be thin’. To think of it in terms of - if a person can simply stop wanting to be ‘thin’ then everything will return to normal. Their weight, their eating, their life. It is also in part because understanding the role anxiety plays in a person’s eating disorder requires thought, patience and individualized attention.

So what is anxiety? How best can we understand it? First, let’s take a look at the definition at the Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/anxiety

Here anxiety is described as:

1. distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear of danger or misfortune: He felt anxiety about the possible loss of his job.

2. earnest but tense desire; eagerness: He had a keen anxiety to succeed in his work.

3. Psychiatry. A state of apprehension and psychic tension occurring in some forms of mental disorder.

Finish reading blog at: http://eatingdisorderhopeculture.blogspot.com/

For more on this you may like to read an author interview I did with Suko's Notebook in which I discussed Cardboard: A woman left for dead and the protagonist Lucy's experience of an eating disorder and anxiety. Suko’s Notebook

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center

Making a Real-Life Difference for Women and Families

Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center

Timberline Knolls is one of the leading residential treatment centers for anorexia nervosa, bulimia, binge eating, and other body image and eating disorders. We specialize in holistic, individualized eating disorder treatment for adult women and adolescent girls (ages 12 and up).


Treatment combines excellence in medical care with awareness that each woman will face unique challenges as she seeks a life without symptoms of her eating disorder.

Our private, wooded 43-acre campus provides a hopeful and nurturing setting for a woman to restore her health, nourish her spirit, and regain confidence that she can enjoy a fulfilling life.

Individualized, Holistic Treatment


Leading eating disorder specialists frequently recommend Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center to their patients who need more intensive medical and clinical support. That’s because they know each woman will get the personal attention she needs to make a real-life difference in her own life.

There are no tracks for eating disorders, substance abuse, or other disorders. It doesn’t matter whether a woman seeks anorexia treatment, bulimia treatment, or recovery from compulsive overeating, orthorexia, or other co-occurring disorders. We don’t just treat her disease; we help her learn to help herself by building strength and confidence from within.

Recognized for Excellence

Timberline Knolls’ treatment team is headed by Kimberly Dennis, MD, a leading psychiatrist specializing in eating disorders. Dr. Dennis and her colleagues are sought out for their extensive expertise treating women with complex cases of anorexia nervosa, bulimia, substance abuse, and other eating and mood disorders.

Additionally, Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center has been awarded the Gold Seal of Approval by The Joint Commission, the nation’s leading healthcare accrediting organization.

Personalized Family Therapy


Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center approaches family involvement differently than many eating disorder treatment centers. There is no pre-set family week.

Each family is assigned a dedicated family therapist, who will begin working separately with the woman and her loved ones during her first week in treatment. A woman’s family therapist will coordinate with her entire treatment team to arrange campus visits when they can be both clinically beneficial for the resident, and healing for her loved ones.

Hidden Barriers to Recovery?


Our treatment team has a track record of successfully identifying and treating co-occurring disorders, which often lie at the root of repeated relapses for women with anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders.

This is particularly comforting to the many women who seek treatment at Timberline Knolls after relapsing following past eating disorder treatment. We understand the despair these women and their loved ones are feeling, and commit to making life-long recovery the goal for each of our residents.

The Christian Treatment Path

Our individualized approach allows women the option to customize a Christian treatment program that will reinvigorate their faith while addressing an eating disorder. We have full-time Christian therapists on our staff for women who request one, and also arrange pastoral counselors for women who seek to deepen their understanding of the Bible or Christianity.

Program Highlights

  • 24-hour onsite nursing and medical care
  • Expressive therapy, including art in our historic studio
  • Equine therapy and pet therapy
  • Aftercare planning begins at intake
  • Emotion management and behavioral skill development
  • State-approved school on-campus, which can support adolescents and college-age women
  • Trauma-informed treatment
  • Life skills training

Learn More

Signs, Symptoms and Effects of Eating Disorders

Eating Disorder Treatment Options

Binge Eating Disorder Treatment

Anorexia Nervosa

Bulimia Nervosa

Orthorexia

Location / Contact

Timberline Knolls Logo

Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center is located in suburban Chicago near two major airports that offer direct flights from hundreds of cities daily.

40 Timberline Drive
Lemont, IL, 60439

Our licensed admissions counselors are available to provide women and their loved ones with a free, confidential screening and to help assess their treatment needs. Call us today at: 877.257.9611

Click to learn more about Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center

*Eating Disorder Hope is proud to feature Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center in our Library of Eating Disorder Specialists at: http://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/eating-disorder-specialist-timberline-knolls-residential-treatment-center.html

Visit the entire Eating Disorder Hope Specialist Library and learn of eating disorder treatment specialists across the country. Contact info@eatingdisorderhope.com if you would like to be considered for listing in our Eating Disorder Specialist Library and/or other advertising options on the Eating Disorder Hope website.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Adderall a Miracle Drug to College Students - Highly Addictive Nature Ignored


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contacts:
Danielle Bickelmann
Susie Lomelino
Michael Burns & Associates
214-521-8596
dbickelmann@mbapr.com
slomelino@mbapr.com

Adderall a Miracle Drug to College Students ~
Highly Addictive Nature Ignored

CHICAGO (May 11, 2010) – Adderall is a drug widely reported to increase alertness, concentration and overall cognitive performance, while decreasing fatigue – but it is also a drug widely abused across college campuses. During final exams time and throughout the year, students are consuming this highly addictive drug in order to study, as well as in many cases to lose weight due to the loss of appetite realized when Adderall is taken.

Prescribed on a regular basis to treat ADHD and ADD, Adderall is being sold and handed out in mass quantities to individuals with no prescriptions. The problem is getting worse and Kimberly Dennis, M.D., Medical Director at Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center, wants to spread the word about the harmful effects of this drug.

“Adderall is over prescribed to all populations, by general psychiatrists and even addiction psychiatrists, without informed consent or understanding by the psychiatrist of dependency risks,” said Dr. Dennis. “Many people with addictions and eating disorders seek out psychiatrists who will give them Adderall prescriptions with little to no therapy, diagnostic detail or consideration of non-medication alternatives.”

The problem has been researched by The National Survey on Drug Use and Health, who in a 2009 survey found that, “full-time college students aged 18 to 22 were twice as likely as their counterparts who were not full-time college students to have used Adderall non-medically in the past year.”

Dr. Dennis believes the best medication for attention deficit disorder is ongoing, consistent and loving therapeutic attention. Due diligence must be done by professionals to decrease the amount of these prescriptions handed out, and subsequently decrease the amount of abuse widely seen on college campuses. And education to college students on the drug’s addictive nature is key to stopping the severity of abuse being seen.

Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center is 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.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Eating Disorder Hope Announces Newest Addition to our Eating Disorder Specialist Library: The Eating Disorder Treatment Program at Seaside Palm Beach

Seaside Eating Disorder  Building

Specializing in Dual Diagnosis Treatment


The EATING DISORDER TREATMENT PROGRAM at SeaSide Palm Beach specializes in helping individuals who suffer from a dual diagnosis. A specialized dual diagnosis treatment is required for their rehab to be a lasting and complete success. Dual diagnoses or Co-Occurring Disorders are when an individual suffers simultaneously from both a psychiatric disorder (like an eating disorder) as well as a substance abuse problem (like alcohol abuse or drug abuse). One very common type of dual diagnosis is called EDCD (Eating Disorder Chemical Dependency). Individuals suffering from EDCD have both an eating disorder as well as being chemical dependent (use alcohol and/or drugs).


Most people are usually very surprised to learn that eating disorders have little to do with food.


Especially when one considers that many people who suffer from eating disorders actually have an unhealthy obsession with food. In the majority of cases, eating disorders have more to do with a lack of emotional well-being resulting from one’s inability to effectively identify and communicate their own needs and wants to others.

Family After Successful Eating Disorder Treatment


Eating disorders or disordered eating begins only as an emotional/psychological problem, but if left unchecked or ignored over time will develop into a physical problem that can lead to serious illnesses and possibly even death. If an individual suffering from an eating disorder also has an alcohol or drug problem, the risk for serious illness or death increases substantially.

Psychological Treatment


Because eating disorders are classified as psychiatric disorders, treatment is effective when the psychological reasons (root causes) are examined and identified in the individual sufferer. The most common psychological behavior for individuals suffering from disordered eating is when they are subjected to stress (either external or internal stressors) it triggers their eating disorder. This self-destructive learned behavior becomes even further compounded if one chooses to combine the eating disorder with alcohol abuse or drug abuse as a coping mechanism to relieve stress or anxiety.

Lower Level Eating Disorder Treatment

Holistic Approach


The EATING DISORDER TREATMENT PROGRAM at SeaSide Palm Beach
uses a holistic approach built on the 12-step model for treatment. The majority of studies have shown that the highest success rates are achieved for individuals suffering from a dual diagnosis or co-occurring disorders using the 12-step model for therapy. Central to the program is a special focus that helps the individual develop new and more constructive methods for coping with stress. This may include trying to discover the root cause for how the disorder started. Research has shown that individuals suffering from eating disorders are hypersensitive to external cues and emotional signals. Part of the therapy process is to help bring the unconscious into awareness and to resolve inner developmental conflicts that are responsible for the eating disorder.

Cutting Edge and Unique Treatment


The EATING DISORDER TREATMENT PROGRAM at SeaSide Palm Beach
utilizes experiential therapies, massage, EMDR and expressive arts therapy, all of which have positive effects on self-awareness and self-regulation. The goal is for the individual to become more aware of their internal self while simultaneously learning the behavioral tools that are integral to communication and self-nurturing.


This cutting edge and unique treatment process incorporates psycho-educational training, which includes educating the individual about the illness and making them consciously aware of it. Additionally, focus will be placed on a healthy diet. Special focus is not placed on what food and how much food the person eats, but rather on the fears about food and one’s emotions toward food and eating in general.


Kitchen for Eating Disorder Treatment

Medically Supervised Physical Wellness Program


Because medical research has proven that exercise is an integral part of any healthy lifestyle, The EATING DISORDER TREATMENT PROGRAM at SeaSide Palm Beach uses a medically supervised physical wellness program as part of our treatment for eating disorders when combined with substance abuse. Recent studies have shown the success rates of treating individuals with eating disorders combined with substance abuse increases dramatically when a supervised exercise program is included as part of an eating disorder treatment.


So many individuals who have struggled with the co-occurring disorders of a eating disorder combined with substance abuse complain that there is nowhere for them to turn to get help with both of their recovery challenges simultaneously. At SeaSide Palm Beach we have staff who are experts at doing just that--helping people to identify and work through the issues that constitute the underlying "threads that connect" both symptom patterns. Our staff members are renown eating disorder and substance abuse specialists who have the capacity to work within, and when necessary, go even beyond the 12 step model to both support joint symptom management and deeper core-issue resolution. The the cycle of "see-sawing" back and forth, from eating disorders and substance abuse, can finally be stopped. Our dual diagnosis program focuses on trauma resolution, grief work, and self-esteem repair. We provide round the clock staffing to support people in creating and maintaining a healthier relationship to food and eating. This work, in conjunction with a sober and responsible commitment to recovery from substance abuse, can empower people to move forward in their lives with confidence and hope, knowing they can get off the dual diagnosis "see-saw" once and for all.

Elevator for Eating Disorder Treatment

Contact Information


Call us today 24/7 toll-free at (888) 432-2467 to stop the self-destructive cycle of EDCD and give yourself a chance at happiness and living (which is not the same as just existing or surviving from day to day).

The EATING DISORDER TREATMENT PROGRAM
at SeaSide Palm Beach

www.luxuryalcoholdrugrehab.com/eating-disorders-and-chemical-dependency

Visit the entire Eating Disorder Hope Specialist Library and learn of eating disorder treatment specialists across the country. Contact info@eatingdisorderhope.com if you would like to be considered for listing in our Eating Disorder Specialist Library and/or other advertising options on the Eating Disorder Hope website.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Featured Eating Disorder Recovery Blog

by Emily (Rader Programs)

Symbiosis

Prior to leading my first ANAD eating disorder support group, I considered that I might possibly be triggered by doing this work. I wondered if it might make me want to go back to barely eating. But already I had begun to see the beauty in recovery. I thought and felt differently. Memories of hospital hell and all I’d endured to fight through my eating disorder still lingered fresh in mind, with heightened emotions attached and intact. I knew, both physically and psychologically speaking, that I could not go through that again. I had also realized through the incredibly challenging quest of extracting my eating disorder from my life and my sense of identity, the need to hurt myself finally subsided and the desire to protect and take care of myself emerged.

In eerie detail, I can recall how scared, confused, and entrenched in my eating disorder I used to be, and how utterly alone I felt. Eating disorder treatment, for me, was the most challenging experience of my life. In my many encounters with professionals that should have known better than to do/say/write/act/think the things they did, in witnessing so many missed opportunities to actually help and support someone with an eating disorder, something in me awakened. I thought to myself, “This is not right. Something must be done about this…”

Ironically, that meant I would have to take care of myself (i.e. eat) in order to have even a shot at being there for you or changing anything about the way eating disorders are treated, perceived, or developed. By the end of my first support group meeting, I knew that I had definitely found my niche, my fuel, my passion, my drive. In so many ways, you are my inspiration and motivation! I do not want any one of you treated the way I was at times!! Or feeling the way I felt!!! And I know in many places, many towns, many different facilities and hospitals, that similar mistakes, insults, ignorance, unnecessary pain and hardship are being inflicted on you, too…

Finish reading blog under title: Symbiosis

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

12 Year Old Boy battled anorexia after bullying

Boy, 12, taunted about being 'chubby' had to be force-fed in hospital after eating just 50 calories a day

By James Tozer
Last updated at 2:03 AM on 12th May 2010

A schoolboy taunted for being 'chubby' told yesterday how he became anorexic at the age of 11 and lost so much weight he was left on the verge of death.

Taylor Kerkham, now 12, became obsessed about his calorie intake, and on some days would eat as little as half a pot of diet yoghurt and a slice of cherry tomato.

His anxious parents tried everything to make him eat more, but the previously healthy and active youngster would become hysterical and threaten to throw his dinner plate on the floor.

Eventually Taylor collapsed after his weight plummeted to under 5st, and he was admitted to hospital and fed through a tube amid fears he was at risk of heart failure.

Taylor Kerkham's weight plummeted to under five stone, but he is now recovering well and is pictured here with his mother Cheryl Stevens

Doctors said his circulation was so poor he faced losing his fingers and toes, but after months of medical attention and therapy he was allowed home.

Now back at school and enjoying food again, Taylor yesterday bravely spoke out about the little-known phenomenon of anorexia in boys.

Taylor's problems began when he started at secondary school weighing around 8st.

Taylor now eats normally - although he does not like large    portions

Taylor now eats normally - although he does not like large portions. He is pictured here recovering in hospital where his weight fell to under five stone

While he wasn't seriously bullied, 'jibes' about being overweight made him self-conscious.

'I was not fat but I was a bit chubby,' he said. 'Other children made comments and I wanted to be healthier, I wanted to lose weight.

'It started with watching TV, seeing programmes about healthy eating, and then I started to look up calories in recipe books and on the computer.'

Taylor set himself a target of eating just 1,500 calories a day - the recommended intake for a boy of his age is around 2,200 - but as his obsession deepened he slashed that to just 50.

He would scrutinise his 39-year-old mother Cheryl's cooking avidly, she explained yesterday.

'Every mealtime was a battleground. He would watch me cooking and then examine everything I was putting into the pan.

'He would shout if I added oil. He even pretended to drop his plate so that he wouldn't have to eat something he didn't like.

'He would give his food to the dog, he would hide it behind the sofa - we had to stay with him watching him all the time.'

Along with his father Simon, who works for an insulation firm, they took professional advice, removing mirrors around the family home in Stockport, Greater Manchester and taking the batteries from their bathroom scales.

But by last summer he had started to hallucinate, becoming convinced he was taking in calories from smelling other people's food and even perfume.

When his parents forced him to eat a biscuit he became hysterical, threatening to commit suicide.

'His strength of mind to pursue this was amazing, he was so determined,' said his 42-year-old father.

'He was not himself. He had always loved his food. It was frightening.'

After collapsing at school he had to be admitted to Stepping Hill Hospital where he was fed through a tube while his heart was monitored for fear it would fail.

Taylor, who needed a wheelchair to get around, was then moved to a child and adolescent mental health ward at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital where he spent the next six months.

Now weighing a healthy seven and a half stone, he has returned to lessons at Stockport School and enjoys playing table tennis and riding his BMX bike. His ambition is to become a zoologist.

'It is weird now, I can remember when I could only think about food and how I liked losing weight,' said Taylor, who has a 16-year-old brother, Jack.

'Talking about it now it seems like a long time ago, almost like it was another person.'

While he still doesn't like eating large portions of food, he derives motivation to eat a healthy diet by the desire to grow taller - he has gained an inch in the past two months, double his growth while in hospital.

Now his parents want to raise awareness that eating disorders can affect boys as well as girls.

'I think there's a lot of pressure on young boys today, they see all these images of male models and footballers and want to be like them,' his mother said.

'Also while the healthy eating campaigns by people like Jamie Oliver do a lot of good, they can make children think about weight loss in the wrong way.'

They are backing eating disorders charity Beat which says conditions like anorexia affect young boys disproportionately.

'Young children are influenced by unrealistic images of perfect bodies which makes them far more self-aware and liable to find fault with their appearance than in the past,' said spokeswoman Mary George.

'It's vital that parents seek medical advice as soon as possible if they're worried about their child.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1277218/Boy-12-tells-school-bullies-drove-anorexia-ate-just-50-calories-day.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0nj0FdZWB

Please share your comments on the Eating Disorder Hope Blog

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Eating Disorder Hope Founder, Jacquelyn Ekern, discusses Eating Disorders 101 in Live Radio Interview(recording)

Thursday, May 06, 2010

AED Credentialing Standards for Eating Disorders Inpatient/Residential Treatment

academy of  eating disorders banner

The Academy for Eating Disorders has now posted the AED Credentialing Standards for Eating Disorders Inpatient/Residential Treatment on the AED Web site. We welcome your comments and feedback.

The AED Credentialing Task Force was formed in response to family member concerns generated at a NEDA annual meeting and a desire to promote basic standards to ensure high quality inpatient and residential treatment for eating disorders. It is a multidisciplinary group of expert clinicians, researchers, and patient/family advocates from AED, IAEDP and NEDA.

These three main organizations, along with many others, including national and international leaders in the eating disorders field and related professions, residential/inpatient treatment program directors, insurers, as well as recovered individuals and family members, have jointly worked to develop standards for inpatient/residential treatment over the past six years.

The AED Credentialing Task Force developed the residential/inpatient treatment standards to: (a) safeguard patients and families who seek eating disorders inpatient and residential treatment; (b) review and improve the quality of care offered by inpatient and residential treatment programs, and (c) provide a quality of care benchmark for third party payers to consider as they collaborate with providers in the development of comprehensive models of care and its reimbursement. The standards of care relate to program a) assessment and treatment planning, b) treatment delivery, c) quality improvement and d) outcome measurement.

We have posted the standards so you can examine them in their most up-to-date form. We are now exploring ways to create an accreditation program and voluntary accreditation process that will ensure quality of care and safeguard patients and families in their pursuit and receipt of this care. If you have any further questions or comments regarding the standards, feel free to contact me at tantillo@rochester.rr.com.

~Mary Tantillo PhD RN CS FAED, Chairperson, AED Credentialing Task Force

Click here to read more details about the standards and the Credentialing Task Force.

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Remuda Ranch Partners with Nationally Renowned Eating Disorders Expert and Author Dr. Ralph Carson

PHOENIX (May 4, 2010)

Remuda Ranch Programs for Eating and Anxiety Disorders has partnered with nationally renowned eating disorders, exercise physiology, nutrition expert and author, Ralph Carson, PhD, RD, LD. Through training and presentations, Dr. Carson will educate Remuda Ranch's staff and those working in the field of eating disorders about the latest in treatment innovations and research.

Dr. Carson has always been on the forefront of research and innovation in the treatment of eating disorders, said Billy Young, CEO of Remuda Ranch Programs for Eating and Anxiety Disorders. His research, vision and knowledge will greatly benefit our staff and those that work in the field ofeating disorders and nutrition.

Dr. Carson's training will focus on physiological recovery from eating disorders using a brain atlas. He will discuss utilizing psychotherapy in order to stimulate the brain to rewire itself; nutrition and diet to nourish the brain so that repair, growth and modification take place; and sleep therapy to heal the brain.

I have been working in the eating disorders field for more than 30 years, said Ralph Carson, PhD, RD, LD. I have known of Remuda Ranch's work since its inception more than 20 years ago. I have profound admiration for Remuda's staff, their knowledge and passion to help those struggling with eating disorders.

Dr. Carson is the author of the book Harnessing the Healing Power of Fruit: The New Paradigm for Optimum Health. His new book, The Brain Fix will be released later this year.

With Dr. Carson as our partner, we continue our reputation and commitment to remain on the cutting edge of research in treating these devastating disorders, adds Young.


About Remuda Ranch Programs for Eating and Anxiety Disorders

Remuda Ranch offers inpatient and residential programs for individuals suffering from eating or anxiety disorders. Each patient is treated by a multi-disciplinary team including a Psychiatric and a Primary Care Provider, Registered Dietitian, Masters Level therapist, Psychologist and Registered Nurse. The professional staff equips each patient with the right tools to live a healthy, productive life. For more information, please visit www.remudaranch.com.

Monday, May 03, 2010

Concern about Suicide and Eating Disorders

Eating Disorders and Suicide

@ Remuda Ranch

Eating disorders are physically devastating diseases. The medical consequences of anorexia and bulimia include everything from anemia and bone loss to intestinal issues and infertility. The good news is that if caught early and treated, most of these medical problems can be reversed and health can be restored. However, what can not be resolved is the high mortality rate associated with these disorders. A full 10% of those struggling with an eating disorder will die from it. These deaths often occur as a result of cardiac damage or other extreme medical complications. A lesser known, but profoundly important, cause of death is suicide. Recent research indicates that suicide is a major cause of death among those with anorexia. Although suicide can and does occur in those struggling with bulimia, it is less frequent and more a result of an impulsive act vs. a planned action....Finish Article

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