Viewing blog posts categorized under "Anorexia Nervosa"

As promised, here is the first patient case report by Richard Morton in his 1689 book, Pthisiologia. My comments are in regular italics and his original text in bold (with original, Stuart England grammar and spelling!).

History 1

Mr. Duke’s Daughter in S Mary Axe (a medieval parish in London memorialized by a modern London street of that name) in the year 1684. and the Eighteenth Year of her Age, in the month of July fell into a total Supression of her monthly Courses from a Multitude…

There seems to be a discussion that simply will not die in the world of eating disorders (particularly when it comes to anorexia nervosa) around whether the “desire for thinness” is culturally bound and whether AN is a “modern phenomenon”.

A few years ago I was fortunate enough to acquire a copy of Pthsiologia, a book written in 1689 by Richard Morton, an astute observer and physician of his day.  Morton’s description of two cases—one in a boy and one in a girl-- of what we now call…

I am often surprised and pleased at the way we—pediatric providers who believe in the biological basis for eating disorders and parents who are caring for their children-- stumble our way forward trying to make things work and find ourselves on the same track.

I was given this lovely plate after the FEAST conference, by a mom, with the following kind words:

Dr. O'Toole,

Thank You for believing in parents and for all your hard work and dedication in the treatment of EDs, and…

I have a lot to give thanks for, great and small, and I bet you do too: for the soft, cold rain instead of icy roads, for the warm cup of coffee at the start of a hard day, for a season where oranges are fresh, for good books and seed catalogues…..

I give thanks this week for the continued good health of my children and grandchildren.
And while I cannot (yet) give thanks for the health of my husband, I give thanks for the physicians he has encountered who care enough to transplant him.…

OK folks, as Laura Collins says:  “A new era of science-based, family inclusive and truly optimistic eating disorder treatment begins now.”

And it begins with the F.E.A.S.T. conference, the very first, in Alexandria, Virginia on November 3rd and 4th.

The keynote speaker is to be Dr Thomas Insel of the NIMH, perhaps the most prominent person to advocate the concept of anorexia nervosa as a brain disorder and to write an open letter to this effect.

This will not be another of the…

Even when thinking about eating disorders I can’t help but ask myself:  “wwbbd? --what would Botboy do?”
 
Who the heck is Botboy?
 
Well, the short answer is that Botboy is a social robot of my imagining, about whom I have written a book.  He is clever, dedicated, and in appearance looks something like a squarish metal human—but not too much. A longer, more significant answer is that he—and social robots like him—could be game-changing assistants of the future for people with chronic…

As Dr. O’Toole is away this week, I thought I would try to fill her rather roomy shoes and take a stab at this week’s blog. As CEO I’m often asked by parents and providers: what makes a good eating disorder treatment program? What specific criteria should one use to compare programs? What questions should one be asking?

And you won’t be asking these questions only of prospective treatment programs. These will come in handy talking to your insurance company, when they make the…

Who is not a candidate for family-based treatments (FBTs)? We don’t like to think about this question, and we like to talk about it openly even less.  As a community eating disorder professionals and families have for the most part only recently come to grips with the concept that family-based treatments are the most successful. They are – to date – the strongest tools in our treatment toolbox.  And because they can be so successful, we like to think that family-based treatments are…

There are many by-words in contemporary medicine and ever more coming along.  “Vertical integration” is one of them, but what exactly does it mean?

It means something that we have been doing at Kartini Clinic since 2000 and something we would like to refine further as we move into the future of care for children with eating disorders.  Once, vertical integration was an innovation, now it is becoming standard.  Vertical integration is a system of care where, as the patient moves…

What is it that makes a good doctor?  The much vaunted ‘bedside manner’—what does it mean?  I think it’s the old “give a damn” factor at work, a factor I have reported on in earlier blogs here and here.  Good bedside manner is not suavity, not glad-handing, not telling a patient what they want to hear; it is something else entirely.

This blog is another one of my reports describing what it is like for the shoe to be on the other foot, so if you are only interested in reading about…