Objective: Research has shown that college students have elevated rates of alcohol use and problematic eating behaviors. The current study focused on the relationships between dieting behaviors and alcohol use among a sample of undergraduates attending National Eating Disorder Screening Program. Method: All participants (n=70, 100% female, average…

Research has shown that animals and humans habituate on a variety of behavioral and physiological responses to repeated presentations of food cues, and habituation is related to amount of food consumed and cessation of eating. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of experimental paradigms used to study habituation, integrate a…

The enteric nervous system is an integrative brain with collection of neurons in the gastrointestinal tract which is capable of functioning independently of the central nervous system (CNS). The enteric nervous system modulates motility, secretions, microcirculation, immune and inflammatory responses of the gastrointestinal tract. Dysphagia,…

The predictors and moderators of treatment outcome for adolescents with bulimia nervosa (BN) are explored among those who participated in family based treatment or individual supportive psychotherapy. It is concluded that family-based treatment of BN may be most effective in those cases with low levels of eating disorder psychopathology.

Individual differences in diurnal preferences and circadian rhythms are viewed as an interesting dimension of human personality. Previous research has examined various psychological correlates of diurnal preference. Evening types reported psychological and psychosomatic disturbances more frequently and intensively than morning types and morning…

Treatment-seeking and non-treatment-seeking transgender college students were examined with regard to victimization and psychological distress. Findings showed that transgender college students had elevated rates of distress as compared with college students who identified as men or women. Results indicated that treatment-seeking and non-treatment…

Despite their formal dissimilarity, problem behaviors (e.g., substance misuse, binge eating, self-harm) may share a common function. According to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), this shared function is "Experiential Avoidance," the process of avoiding, escaping or otherwise altering unwanted private events (e.g., thoughts, feelings,…

Cognitive bias refers to a well-established finding that individuals who suffer from certain clinical problems (e.g., depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, etc.) selectively attend to, remember, and interpret events relevant to their condition. Although a body of literature exists that has tried to examine this…

New communication technologies offer novel possibilities for the prevention of mental illness, in which geographical and psychosocial distances often hamper help-seeking. This paper introduces ES[S]PRIT, an Internet-based eating disorders (ED) prevention programme for university students. The programme follows a stepped-care approach combining…

Objective: The authors assessed the prevalence of pathogenic eating and weight-control behaviors among female college athletes, using a psychometrically valid measure. Participants: Participants were 204 college athletes (M age = 20.16 years, SD = 1.31 years) from 17 sports at 3 universities. On average, they participated in their sport for 10.88…

In 1996, the author published "A Secret Life in a Culture of Thinness: Reflections on Body, Food, and Bulimia" (Tillmann-Healy, 1996), an account of her struggle with binging and purging from ages 15 to 25. She came to understand bulimia as a communicative act, expressing fear, anxiety, and grief. From 25 to 35, her recovery from bulimia involved…

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), are characterized by adherence to routines and ritualistic behaviors. Previous research has demonstrated multiple feeding problems with children with ASD such as food selectivity. While the extent of these problem behaviors is well documented in the literature, efforts have not been made to assess these behaviors…

Structural and functional brain abnormalities have been described in anorexia nervosa (AN). The objective of this study was to examine whether there is abnormal regional brain activation during a working memory task not associated with any emotional stimuli in adolescent patients with anorexia and to detect possible changes after weight recovery.…

On the basis of integrating objectification theory research with research on body image and eating problems among sexual minority men, the present study examined relations among sociocultural and psychological correlates of eating disorder symptoms with a sample of 231 sexual minority men. Results of a path analysis supported tenets of…

Purpose: This qualitative study focused on the perceptions of family members of children with dysphagia by asking what the family-identified factors are that facilitate or inhibit effective school-based management of pediatric dysphagia. Method: Semistructured interviews of 7 family members of 6 children with dysphagia, ages 2 through 11 years,…