Clinical Crossroads
Eating disorders don’t exist in a vacuum. Because eating disorders result from a complicated interplay of biology, psychology, and social factors, they often co-occur with other health issues, ranging from mood disorders to substance use and beyond. In Clinical Crossroads, we help break down the myriad ways eating disorders overlap with other conditions — and vice versa.
Michelle Konstantinovsky
Eating Disorders and Alcohol Use: The Unexpected Connections
According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, 50% of individuals with eating disorders have also abused alcohol or illicit drugs. Perhaps what’s even more surprising is what that statistic means: the rate of substance abuse in people with eating disorders is five times higher than in the general population. The numbers go both ways, as well: 35% of individuals with substance use issues have also had an eating disorder (eleven times higher than the general population).
Michelle Konstantinovsky
What to Do When “Diet Talk” Arises
The weeks leading up to the official start of summer can be tough pretty much any year. From “beach body workouts” to “detox diets,” our social media feeds are typically flooded with false promises from influencers and companies as swimsuit weather approaches. But this year may be particularly challenging for anyone with an eating disorder — or, frankly, anyone who’s ever had any kind of body image issue — as we slowly re-enter the world, news stories, magazine headlines, and unqualified “experts” want to talk to us about the “Quarantine 15.”
Michelle Konstantinovsky
LGBTQIA+ Community Members Face Unique Risks for Eating Disorders — here’s why
As communities across the world celebrate Pride Month this June, one issue that may not get the spotlight it deserves is the very real, very significant prevalence of eating disorders in the LGBTQIA+ community. Past research has indicated that LGBTQIA+ community members may be more likely to develop eating disorders than their heterosexual counterparts — for example, as the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD) reports, “gay men are seven times more likely to report binge-eating and twelve times more likely to report purging than heterosexual men, and gay and bisexual boys are significantly more likely to fast, vomit, or take laxatives or diet pills to control their weight.”
What we know — and what we have yet to learn — about eating disorders in Indigenous communities
We’re still figuring out how and why eating disorders develop and proliferate in particular communities, and the distinct contributing factors that often make diagnoses and treatment so difficult to attain, particularly in BIPOC communities. When it comes to Indigenous people in particular — those who “share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources where they live, occupy, or from which they have been displaced” — we have a particularly long way to go.