February 21 through 29 is Eating Disorders Awareness Week (link is external), an observance organized by the National Eating Disorder Association (link is external) (NEDA). This year’s theme: “3 Minutes Can Save a Life: Get Screened. Get Help. Get Healthy.” promotes early intervention and education about the causes, dangers and treatments for eating

In the past few years, it seems as though everyone is “eating green” or only “all-organic” food. Although there are many health benefits to this new trend towards “clean-eating,” there is a point when the practice can take over a person’s life and become damaging to their behavioral health. Related to eating disorders, orthorexia nervosa is a condition in which a person has obsessive behaviors, which may include: self-induced dietetic limitations and preparing and eating food in a ritual-like manner, all to achieve and maintain a “pure” diet.

Often times when people hear the term “disordered eating,” they assume it’s another way of saying one has an eating disorder. However, these terms are not interchangeable. With an eating disorder, food intake and weight issues consume your thoughts and actions making it nearly impossible to focus on anything else; it is a mental illness. Eating disorders often cause multiple, serious physical problems and, in severe cases, can become life threatening.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy, or CBT, for depression really started in the 1960’s with behavioral therapy treatments focusing on activity scheduling. CBT today still includes many of these early interventions. Activity scheduling, and its modern form, called behavioral activation, is based on the idea that individuals’ moods and activities are highly related. That is, when people become depressed, they tend to change what they do. For

Eating Disorder Hope (link is external) – EatingDisorderHope.com’s mission is to provide information and resources for patients and families. Since 2005, their philosophy of promotes ending eating disorder behavior and pursuing recovery. Eating Disorder Hope has a very robust social media presence, as well as the following programs in order to assist both people in recovery and families who support those recovering:

Eating disorders require treatment and there are thousands of people in the U.S. who have made it their life’s work to make treatment more effective, make recovery easier and readily available. There are very strong organizations related to the treatment and care of eating disorders that help patients and families not only find a path to recovery, but also resources to stay healthy and keep those who remain in recovery on the right path. This 5 part series will focus on some of the resources available to patients and families that help make a difference in the treatment of eating disorders:

Eating disorders – including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder – affect as many as 5 million Americans every year. While eating disorders typically affect females, males make up as much as 25 percent the total population of people with eating disorders.