Self-Harm is Common Among Adolescents With Eating Disorders

Self-harm or non-suicidal self-injury (SI) are common among adolescents, particularly among adolescents with eating disorders. Previous studies have shown that SI seems to be associated with sexual trauma, mood disorders, and substance abuse. The present study aimed to find out whether (1) SI is associated with any specific eating disorder symptoms, such as bingeing, or purging, and (2) how often clinicians screen for SI behaviours (and whether particular patients are more likely to be screened than others).

Dr. Rebecka Peebles and colleagues looked retrospectively at intake evaluations of 1,432 patients between the ages of 10-21 (mean age 15). Three quarters of the patients were Caucasian, and slightly over 9% were male.  Sixty-three percent had an intake diagnosis of eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS).

MAIN FINDINGS FOR AIM 1

  • Of those screened for SI behaviours, 40.8% engaged in SI
  • Cutting was the most common SI behaviour reported (85%)
  • Bingeing/purging was
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Serotonin Function in Bulimia Nervosa – Brain Circuits & Behaviour

Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) is a neurotransmitter that is involved in just about everything. It helps ensure proper cell growth, maturation and migration during development. Serotonin is also important in regulating emotions, cognitive functions, appetite, pain, circadian rhythms, and our endocrine system in adulthood. It is hardly a surprise then, that the serotonergic system seems to be important in bulimia nervosa (BN).

I’ve written previously about serotonin in restricting-type anorexia nervosa, so for this post I’m going to be shifting focus and talk about bulimia and binge-purge type anorexia nervosa (AN-BP).

The information in this post isn’t coming from a review paper. Instead, I’m going to be summarizing and explaining information from a chapter in a book titled Behavioural Neurobiology of Eating Disorders. In the chapter on serotonin and bulimia, Howard Steiger and colleagues propose a model for serotonin action in bulimia nervosa which takes into account “diverse Continue reading →