The mortality rate of eating disorders is the highest of all psychological illnesses, but if you thought they were incurable our expert on this episode of What Makes Up Your Mind has heartening news. Dr. James Lock is Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Pediatrics in the Stanford Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. A global expert on eating disorders, Dr. Lock also directs the Stanford Eating Disorder Program for Children and Adolescents.
As he explains in this episode, eating disorders gradually and sneakily take hold mostly in youth, disrupting physical and emotional development. Left unchecked serious and debilitating conditions can develop, some with fatal outcomes, including suicide. But Dr. Lock is having great success treating and curing Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa with Family Based Treatment (FBT) which is exactly the opposite of traditional treatment which isolated the patient and blamed parents for the condition. He is now researching whether FBT will be as effective against Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) that often begins in very young children, characterized by profoundly picky eating, appetite struggles, and fears of illness after eating.
As efficacious as FBT has proven to be, access to eating disorder treatment is severely limited so a great focus of Dr. Lock’s work at this time is expanding access as well as training for medical providers.
Click LISTEN to hear Dr. Lock on the latest science and encouraging news on beating eating disorders and use the links below for additional information and resources.
