In this episode:

• People with eating disorders can come in all weights, sexes, and ages
• They don’t cause their own eating disorder; it’s caused by accidental starvation of the brain by going on diets or over-exercising
• The treatment involves four things:
  1. Engage the patient
  2. Re-nourish their body so they are medically not at risk
  3. Re-nourish their brain to get them out of obsessive starve thinking and back to flexible insightful thinking
  4. Link them with psychotherapy that’s evidence-based and provide lots of education and common goals

Guests: A/Prof Warren Ward, Psychiatrist

Host: Dr David Lim, GP and Medical Educator

Total time: 38 mins

Recommended resources:

• connect·ed – Australia & New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorders
• What is starvation syndrome | Centre for Clinical Interventions
• Overcoming binge eating, second edition: The proven program to learn why you binge and how you can stop
• Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of eating disorders
• Paying the price – The economic and social impact of eating disorders in Australia report
• An RCT of three programs aimed at reducing risk factors for both eating disorders and obesity: Outcomes from the prevention across the spectrum study
• Eating Disorders Victoria

This Healthed educational segment is supported by Pfizer Australia, Sydney. The views expressed by the experts are entirely their own.