Posts Tagged ‘Education’

The Emily Program recognizes National Eating Disorders Awareness Week each February with education surrounding the illness that affects our clients and their families. Similar to other kinds of awareness campaigns, this national campaign aims to increase public understanding and support for the cause. Eating disorder awareness is especially important, because although they are common mental health conditions, they are often misunderstood.

Nearly 30 million Americans experience an eating disorder in their lifetime. Unfortunately, many of these individuals will not receive treatment due to stigma, misinformation, and treatment access barriers. Making eating disorders visible as a serious illness is essential to improving the detection and intervention of the disorder. In this blog, we discuss the types, causes, signs, and consequences of eating disorders, as well as an overview of the multidisciplinary team that treats them. 

For many, a brand new year means reflections and resolutions. Amid all this “new year, new me” chatter, we want to take a moment to emphasize the importance of taking care of ourselves exactly as we are today.

We have all heard about self-care; it’s become a major part of today’s culture. Increasingly, we see people posting and talking about self-care on social media, but do we fully understand what self-care is? 

In this blog, we’ll debunk some common myths about self-care and provide some suggestions on how we can intentionally care for our mental, emotional, and physical health in the year ahead. 

As we celebrate the holiday season of 2021, it is easy to remember the holiday season of 2020, our first holiday during the pandemic. When COVID-19 became an issue—a deadly issue—for our country and our clients, we were all aware of how many things in our lives turned upside down or stopped completely. All our daily lives have changed more than we ever could have imagined. Many have lost loved ones or had their own health significantly impacted.

The year is winding down, and now is an ideal time to use insurance benefits before they expire. For many people, however, insurance can be a confusing and overwhelming topic.

There are several common questions referring providers have related to insurance coverage for eating disorder care. In this reference guide, we’ll answer some of these questions, define common insurance-related terms, and provide a brief overview of some insurance companies we work with at The Emily Program.

Eating disorders are much more prevalent than many people realize. In the U.S. alone, more than 30 million people will struggle with one. An eating disorder is a complex mental illness that affects an individual’s eating habits and can cause severe distress about body weight and shape. Disturbed eating patterns can look anything like extreme food restriction to periods of excessive food intake.

How do we know when disordered eating becomes an eating disorder? It can be difficult to distinguish between the two when dieting is so prevalent and excessive exercise is glorified. However, eating disorders, unlike disordered eating, impair one’s health and ability to function in terms of life goals, relationships, career, and more. 

There are many types of eating disorders, each with an array of signs and symptoms, including anorexia nervosa, binge eating disorder, bulimia nervosa, ARFID, and OSFED. In this article, we will cover the warning signs and symptoms of an eating disorder, the key questions to ask yourself if you are concerned you have one, and the misperception that eating disorders only affect young, thin, white women.

October is World Bullying Prevention Month. In recognition of this, we want to address the impact of bullying on body image due to weight stigma/weight bias and how these factors relate to eating disorders. 

It has been reported that school-age students are most commonly bullied about physical appearance, race or ethnicity, gender, disability, religion, or sexual orientation. One type of “physical appearance” bullying is weight-based bullying. When someone is bullied about their weight, it can have a major effect on their body image and overall self-esteem. In this blog, we will describe what bullying is, the different types of bullying, and how it can relate to eating disorders.