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Impaired Brain Activity Underlies Impulsive Behaviors in Women with Bulimia
Women with bulimia nervosa (BN), when compared with healthy women, showed different patterns of brain activity while doing a task that required self-regulation. This abnormality may underlie binge eating and other impulsive behaviors that occur with the eating disorder, according to an article published in the January 2009 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Widespread Prevalence of Eating Disorders
Results from a large-scale national survey suggest that binge-eating disorder is actually more prevalent than both anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. The study also found that people with eating disorders, regardless of the type, often have coexisting mood, anxiety, impulse-control, or substance use disorders.
What Are the Medical Complications of Eating Disorders?
The medical consequences of eating disorders can be severe. Fortunately, increasing awareness of the dangers of eating disorders--insightful media coverage on the problem and extensive medical studies-- has led many people to seek necessary therapeutic intervention and to avoid medical disaster.
Researchers Looking Into How and Why Eating Disorders Occur
Eating disorders are not due to a failure of will or behavior; rather, they are real, treatable medical illnesses in which certain maladaptive patterns of eating take on a life of their own.
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