"A 2015 study conducted by American University revealed that Millennials grew up hearing about mental illnesses—including eating disorder and suicidal tendencies—more than any other age group. This younger society is reportedly more accepting of mental health challenges and is also more likely to talk about mental health issues than their parents or grandparents. In the American University survey of 900 Millennials, more than 70 percent said they would be comfortable visiting a counselor or therapist..."

"The scary truth is that ordinary human hatred and aggression are far more dangerous than any psychiatric illness."

"Abortion bans can also increase the risk of suicide. Medical exceptions to abortion bans in the US do not provide for psychological risks to life or health. This limitation prevents physicians from providing abortion care even if they have a well-founded fear that their patient will attempt suicide if forced to continue their pregnancy. Federal guidance regarding the provision of emergency medical care does not explicitly mention mental health under emergency medical conditions that may require abortion. In Dr. Drey’s experience, suicide risk is especially pronounced in some of her teenage patients who develop “post-traumatic stress disorder or suicidal ideation as a result of their pregnancies and make plans to commit suicide if they cannot obtain an abortion.” For individuals who have become pregnant as a result of rape, this risk can also be heightened, Dr. Drey explained."

"Mental health is not for ‘mad people’. It is basically your psychological and emotional wellbeing."

"Self-acceptance is the key to personal growth. By embracing our flaws and limitations, we can develop resilience and a deeper understanding of ourselves, leading to improved mental health and well-being."

"In a recent Legal Times article, Janet Benshoof and Laura Ciolkowski, of the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, charge that some prochoice legislators have consciously bought into the antiabortion movement's "devaluation of women's mental health." Whether or not this is true, recent actions beg the question of why providing equitable treatment for people with mental illness is gaining currency in virtually every public policy context except abortion, where it is fast losing ground. Indeed, the voting records of the 29 senators who voted both for the Daschle amendment and on the Mental Health Parity Act highlight this troubling contradiction: 23 of those 29—all of whom were prochoice or had mixed voting records—voted in favor of the Parity Act. In other words, they took the position that in the insurance context, mental health concerns are sufficiently legitimate to warrant equitable treatment with physical health concerns but that mental health concerns can never present a sufficiently grave threat to a woman's health to justify a postviability abortion."

"I've spent most of my professional life counseling people in despair... people don't usually come to me because things are going well... I know the emotional terrain of desperation fairly well. Such ground is no longer shocking to me. It has a strange familiarity. Since groups of people are simply a collection of individuals, the same psychological principles apply to a collective as to one person. The desperate group in question now is the people of the United States. To put it simply, America is having a nervous breakdown. A spiritual crisis. A complete disassembling of the personality after which a more authentic self might emerge. Yet for that transformation to occur, as a nation, we're going to have to do the work any individual must do to turn such a crisis into an opportunity. It won't be easy... But ultimately, if we're to emerge intact, we're going to have to do what anyone must do at such a time as this. We're going to have to look in the mirror. We're going to have to take full responsibility for the thoughts and actions that led us here. Then, and only then, will we be on the path to recovery."

"The main place we need more mental health counselors is in American public schools. Right now we have one mental health counselor for every 1500 children...yet we have school “trauma rooms”...and elementary school kids on suicide watch!"

"One thing I really prioritize is sleep, and it has changed my life genuinely. Another is focusing on how I can nurture and help my self-talk. When I notice negative self-talk happening, how I can sit with it and be friends with it instead of constantly feeling I'm in this rat race of not good enough, not this enough. Becoming a witness to it instead of a victim to it has also dramatically improved my health. Plus, I use astrology: It's simply a tool to give ourselves permission, to accept ourselves and understand ourselves more. The minute I understand that I was built to think this way, instead of judging myself for it, I have acceptance for myself. It's an allowance to have more self-compassion."

"Any action is often better than no action, especially if you have been stuck in an unhappy situation for a long time. If it is a mistake, at least you learn something, in which case it's no longer a mistake. If you remain stuck, you learn nothing. Is fear preventing you from taking action? Acknowledge the fear, watch it, take your attention into it, be fully present with it. Doing so cuts the link between the fear and your thinking. Don't let the fear rise up into your mind. Use the power of the Now. Fear cannot prevail against it. If there is truly nothing that you can do to change your here and now, and you can't remove yourself from the situation, then accept your here and now totally by dropping all inner resistance. The false, unhappy self that loves feeling miserable, resentful, or sorry for itself can then no longer survive. This is called surrender. Surrender is not weakness. There is great strength in it. Only a surrendered person has spiritual power."

"Modern-day mental-health practitioners often look back at previous generations of psychiatrists and psychologists with a thinly veiled pity, wondering how they could have been so swept away by the cultural currents of their [[time. The confident pronouncements of Victorian-era doctors regarding the epidemic of hysterical women are now dismissed as cultural artifacts. Similarly, illnesses found only in other cultures are often treated like carnival sideshows. Koro, amok and the like can be found far back in the American diagnostic manual (DSM-IV, Pages 845-849) under the heading “culture-bound syndromes.” Given the attention they get, they might as well be labeled “Psychiatric Exotica: Two Bits a Gander.” Western mental-health practitioners often prefer to believe that the 844 pages of the DSM-IV prior to the inclusion of culture-bound syndromes describe real disorders of the mind, illnesses with symptomatology and outcomes relatively unaffected by shifting cultural beliefs. And, it logically follows, if these disorders are unaffected by culture, then they are surely universal to humans everywhere. In this view, the DSM is a field guide to the world’s psyche, and applying it around the world represents simply the brave march of scientific knowledge."

"[A] number of measures have been introduced in recent years—largely by prochoice legislators—that treat women seeking abortions for mental health reasons differently from those with physical health concerns. While these initiatives first grew out of a perceived need among many prochoice legislators for a political alternative to the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, they have significant implications within the larger abortion-rights context—and beyond."

"There is evidence of a positive relation between level of activity and mental health. Involvement in physical activity may prevent the onset of mental health problems or may ameliorate such problems before they escalate to levels of clinical relevance. Exercise has been shown to help reduce the effects of insomnia, stress, depression, and chronic illness. It also plays a vital part in improved weight control, body image, and, especially in the case of the elderly population, independence. Physical activity can also provide an alternative to alcohol and substance misuse and may help patients who have mild to moderate depression."

"Better a poor man healthy and fit, than a rich man tormented in body. Health and vigor are worth more than gold, a robust body, more than great wealth. No riches are preferable to physical wellbeing, and no joy is greater than a cheerful heart."

"It is not known if an exercise programme will enhance psychological variables in women who are not experiencing defined mental health problems. Most research on the effects of exercise on mental health has used young and middle aged subjects or has been conducted in clinical settings. There is a paucity of research on the influence of exercise on the mental health of older healthy women."

"Humans are a dangerously insane and very sick species. That's not a judgment. It's a fact. It is also a fact that the sanity is there underneath the madness. Healing and redemption are available right now. See if you can catch yourself complaining, in either speech or thought, about a situation you find yourself in, what other people do or say, your surroundings, your life situation, even the weather. To complain is always non-acceptance of what is. It invariably carries an unconscious negative charge. When you complain, you make yourself into a victim. When you speak out, you are in your power. So change the situation by taking action or by speaking out if necessary or possible; leave the situation or accept it. All else is madness. p.56"

"Different powerful groups within a society characterize social deviance in different ways, so the types of social deviance considered 'mental disorders' are a reflection of the relative influence of different institutions in the community at a particular point in time. In most Western countries the influence of the medical establishment and the high profile of psychiatry within medicine result in a strong tendency to medicalize many forms of social deviance, to label them as mental disorders, and to develop corresponding treatment facilities. However, based on my observations during a dozen years as a practising psychiatrist in China, the medical institutions there are relatively weak - medical care only accounts for 3.2 per cent of GNP - and psychiatry has a very low status within medicine. The influence of medical and psychiatric institutions on the understanding and management of socially deviant behaviours is correspondingly small and the range of available mental health services is quite limited."

"The debate over the health exception took on a surprising new twist, however, when prochoice legislators began seeking to exclude mental health from the equation in the context of "late" abortions. Searching for "common ground" in the debate over so-called partial-birth abortions, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) drafted the Comprehensive Abortion Ban Act, which would make all abortions after viability illegal unless continuation of the pregnancy would threaten the woman's life or "risk grievous injury to her physical health" (emphasis added). Daschle's proposal, which was offered but rejected in May 1997 as an amendment to the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, would have excluded the possibility of a postviability abortion for any mental health condition, no matter how severe. (The mental health exception is also critical because it has been the aegis under which most abortions in cases of severe fetal abnormality have been justified.) Just over one year later, in September 1998, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), another consistent supporter of reproductive rights, went a step further. With a bipartisan group of prochoice senators, he introduced the Late-Term Abortion Limitation Act, which incorporates Daschle's proposal, including its distinction between physical and mental health conditions, but adds another requirement—that a second physician, not involved in performing the abortion, be consulted to certify that the reason for the abortion meets the narrow requirements of the bill. Durbin is expected to reintroduce his bill again within the coming months."

"Austerity, inequality and job insecurity are bad for mental health and governments should counteract them if they want to face up to the rising prevalence of mental illness, the UN’s top health envoy has said."

"The prescription of psychotropic drugs to deal with mental illness, particularly antidepressants, has soared across the developed world in the past 20 years."

"The prevalence of conditions such as depression and anxiety have risen more than 40% over the past 30 years."

"As acceptance of mental illness has grown, the number of people seeking treatment has grown exponentially, overwhelming services in many countries. The phenomenon has divided experts into those who see mental illness as a predominantly biological, neurological malfunction, treatable by drugs and therapy, and those who believe it is much more psychosocial, the result of government policies, social atomisation, poverty, inequality and insecurity."

"The willingness of some prochoice members to sacrifice the mental health exception in order to appear "reasonable" in the context of the postviability abortion debate is beginning to have significant repercussions beyond that specific issue, seriously reviving a legislative attack on abortion rights that largely has been dormant for two decades. For example, the Medicaid abortion funding ban (commonly known as the Hyde amendment) has included an exception to the prohibition in cases of life endangerment since it was first enacted in 1976. Taking a predictable turn in the wake of the Daschle initiative, Hyde successfully narrowed his language in 1997 to permit abortions to be funded under Medicaid only when a woman's life is endangered by "a physical disorder, a physical injury, or physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself" (emphasis added). It had not been since the late 1970s, when the Hyde amendment in FY 1978 and FY 1979 also contained an exception for "severe and long-lasting physical health damage" (emphasis added), that the legitimacy of a mental health exception had been seriously debated and rejected."

"True mental well-being begins with embracing your inner struggles. By acknowledging and addressing these challenges, you pave the way for lasting personal growth and resilience."

"After the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman, the Teuton and Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world,—a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder."

"Man becomes conscious of himself and his humanity only in society and only by the collective action of the whole society."

"Michael: Well, obviously the dilemma is clear. How do you kill all six people? So I would dangle a sharp blade out the window to slice the neck of the guy on the other track as we smush our five main guys."

"Fisher the Breezebuilder: Trouble with the trolley, eh?"

"Es stände besser um die Welt, wenn die Mühe, die man sich gibt, die subtilsten Moralgesetze auszuklügeln, zur Ausübung der einfachsten angewendet würde."

"This study explored friendship variables in relation to body image, dietary restraint, extreme weight-loss behaviors (EWEBs), and binge eating in adolescent girls. From 523 girls, 79 friendship cliques were identified using social network analysis. Participants completed questionnaires that assessed body image concerns, eating, friendship relations, and psychological family, and media variables. Similarity was greater for within than for between friendship cliques for body image concerns, dietary restraint, and EWLBs, but not for binge eating. Cliques high in body image concerns and dieting manifested these concerns in ways consistent with a high weight/shape-preoccupied subculture. Friendship attitudes contributed significantly to the prediction of individual body image concern and eating behaviors. Use of EWLBs by friends predicted an individual's own level of use."

"It has been hypothesized that eating disorders have multiple and often shared etiologies including biological, psychological, developmental, and sociocultural. A tightly woven network of causes, symptoms, and outcomes of eating disorders makes the study of etiology of these disorders very challenging. Some suggested risk factors for eating disorders require to be defined as either integral parts of eating disorders syndrome such as body dissatisfaction, and perfectionism or outcome of prolonged disordered eating such as functional alterations in serotonin, and some mood disturbances. Researchers should structure their thought processes around this concept that some of currently well-known risk factors for eating disorders are concurrent symptoms of eating disorders. Hence paying special attention to the new and evolved concepts is highly recommended while studying the etiology of eating disorders."

"The development of eating disorders including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and atypical eating disorders that affect many young women and even men in the productive period of their lives is complex and varied. While numbers of presumed risk factors contributing to the development of eating disorders are increasing, previous evidence for biological, psychological, developmental, and sociocultural effects on the development of eating disorders have not been conclusive. Despite the fact that a huge body of research has carefully examined the possible risk factors associated with the eating disorders, they have failed not only to uncover the exact etiology of eating disorders, but also to understand the interaction between different causes of eating disorders. This failure may be due complexities of eating disorders, limitations of the studies or combination of two factors. In this review, some risk factors including biological, psychological, developmental, and sociocultural are discussed."

"Eating disorders occur in men too. An estimated 10 percent of people with anorexia nervosa and bulimia and a third or more of people with binge eating disorder are male."

"There is no one sign of an eating disorder, however there are red flags. These can include excessive “fat, weight or calorie talk,” a pattern of eating a limited choice of low-calorie food or a pattern of occasional binge eating of calorie-dense foods."

"Anorexia nervosa is specifically characterised by an excessive exercise engagement with fear of weight gain and aversion of fat, whereas people with bulimia nervosa present with binge eating and purging. These eating disorders are considered one of the most challenging psychiatric conditions to treat, and treatment usually comprises of cognitive–behavioural therapy and pharmacological management. Exercise is usually not recommended for patients with these conditions, mainly due to the belief that it might aggravate the progress of the disorder. However, there is evidence that exercise increases body mass index and reduce depression in people with binge eating. What is uncertain is whether physiotherapy interventions are effective in treating bulimia and anorexia nervosa."

"Binge eating is the rapid consumption of an unusually-large amount of food in a short period of time. Unlike simple overeating, people who binge feel “out of control” during these episodes. This means that one “cannot stop the urge to eat” once it has begun, even after their stomach is full. Binging may “feel good” initially, but it quickly becomes distressing for the person who is absorbed in this behavior. Food is often eaten secretly and quickly. A binge is usually ended only with abdominal discomfort, social interruption or running out of food. When the binge is over, the person with bulimia often feels guilty and will engage in inappropriate behaviors to rid their body of the excess calories that were eaten."

"Studies have reported that the oral health status is jeopardized in patients with eating disorders. The aim was to review the oro-facial manifestations in patients with eating disorders. The address the focused question was "What is the oro-dental health status in patients with eating disorders?" MEDLINE/PubMed and Google Scholar databases were searched from 1948 to March 2012 using the following terms in various combinations: "Anorexia nervosa", "bulimia nervosa", "eating disorders", "dental", "oral health status". Letters to the editor, unpublished data and articles published in languages other than English were excluded. Dry lips, burning tongue and parotid gland swelling are common manifestations in patients with eating disorders as compared to medically healthy controls. The association of dental caries and periodontal disease in patients with eating disorders remains debatable. Temporomandibular disorders have also been reported to be more prevalent in patients with eating disorders as compared to healthy controls. A critical oral-dental examination during routine dental check-ups may reveal valuable information regarding the presence or absence of eating disorders in routine dental patients. This may be important information, updating the medical history, supporting the role of the physician."

"According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), bulimia nervosa is characterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating followed by 1 or more compensatory behaviors to eliminate the calories (vomiting, laxatives, fasting, etc.) that take place on average a minimum of twice weekly for 3 or more months.5 Patients who do not meet the frequency or length criteria may be diagnosed with DSM-IV eating disorder not otherwise specified. Bulimia nervosa is also delineated into 2 distinct subtypes: purging and nonpurging. With the purging subtype, patients engage in some method to remove the binged food from their bodies. This is most often accomplished by self-induced vomiting but can include the misuse of laxatives, enemas, or diuretics. Nonpurging bulimics use fasting or excessive exercise as the primary compensation for binges but do not regularly purge. Regardless of subtype, bulimic patients have negative self-evaluations, placing inappropriate importance on weight and body image."

"Binge eating disorder has been linked to other mental health disorders. Nearly half of all people with binge eating disorder have a history of depression, although the exact nature of the link is unclear. Many people report that anger, sadness, boredom, anxiety, or other negative emotions can trigger an episode of binge eating. Impulsive behavior and other psychological problems also seem to be more common in people with binge eating disorder."

"We document here the first case of bulimia nervosa associated with primary hyperparathyroidism. The binge eating and self-induced vomiting that occurred for more than 10 years disappeared completely after the surgical cure of primary hyperparathyroidism. Depressive and anxiety symptoms also improved dramatically. The possible influence of derangement in calcium metabolism on the neurobiochemical mechanism of bulimia nervosa is discussed."

"The findings of this study raise questions about the concept of comorbidity as applied to eating disorders and suggest the likely utility for both research and clinical practice of considering eating-disordered symptoms in their characterological context (e.g., references 12, 34). The data from this study suggest that individuals who develop eating disorders who are constricted in most areas of their lives—e.g., who are passive and unassertive, emotionally constricted, and interpersonally avoidant—are likely to express this pattern with anorexic, rather than bulimic behavior. Clinically, these patients tend to be just as constricted in their sexual lives as they are with food, denying themselves pleasure, avoiding sexual relationships, feeling too ashamed or guilty to indicate to their partners what feels good, and so forth. Conversely, individuals with eating disorders whose ability to regulate their impulses and affects is tenuous—as expressed in spiraling emotions, tantrums, clinging to others for soothing, self-mutilation, and other impulsive acts—are likely to lose control over their eating in binges and to use self-destructive compensatory measures such as vomiting that momentarily help them regulate their affects. From this point of view, the question of whether bulimic symptoms should be regarded as impulsive behavior may be misplaced. The answer is probably that it depends on the personality configuration within which bulimic symptoms are contextualized. In low-functioning, emotionally dysregulated, type II bulimic patients, binge eating and purging may be functional equivalents of substance abuse, self-mutilation, and promiscuity. For these patients, bulimic symptoms may represent desperate efforts to regulate intense negative affects that call for immediate, and often maladaptive, responses. In contrast, high-functioning, perfectionistic, type I bulimic patients do not struggle with affects of the same intensity, and they have more adaptive coping strategies at their disposal for dealing with their distress. For these patients, binge eating is not equivalent to impulsive behaviors such as drinking or self-mutilation."

"PSH/GSH may have some utility as a first step in treatment and may have potential as an alternative to formal therapist-delivered psychological therapy. Future research should focus on producing large well-conducted studies of self-help treatments in eating disorders including health economic evaluations, different types and modes of delivering self-help (e.g. computerised versus manual-based) and different populations and settings."

"Evidence for the effectiveness of existing treatments of patients with eating disorders is weak. Here we describe and evaluate a method of treatment in a randomized controlled trial. Sixteen patients, randomly selected out of a group composed of 19 patients with anorexia nervosa and 13 with bulimia nervosa, were trained to eat and recognize satiety by using computer support. They rested in a warm room after eating, and their physical activity was restricted. The patients in the control group (n = 16) received no treatment. Remission was defined by normal body weight (anorexia), cessation of binge eating and purging (bulimia), a normal psychiatric profile, normal laboratory test values, normal eating behavior, and resumption of social activities. Fourteen patients went into remission after a median of 14.4 months (range 4.9-26.5) of treatment, but only one patient went into remission while waiting for treatment (P = 0.0057). Relapse is considered a major problem in patients who have been treated to remission. We therefore report results on a total of 168 patients who have entered our treatment program. The estimated rate of remission was 75%, and estimated time to remission was 14.7 months (quartile range 9.6 > or = 32). Six patients (7%) of 83 who were treated to remission relapsed, but the others (93%) have remained in remission for 12 months (quartile range 6-36). Because the risk of relapse is maximal in the first year after remission, we suggest that most patients treated with this method recover."

"Personality traits have been implicated in the onset, symptomatic expression, and maintenance of eating disorders (EDs). The present article reviews literature examining the link between personality and EDs published within the past decade, and presents a meta-analysis evaluating the prevalence of personality disorders (PDs) in anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and binge eating disorder (BED) as assessed by self-report instruments versus diagnostic interviews. AN and BN are both consistently characterized by perfectionism, obsessive-compulsiveness, neuroticism, negative emotionality, harm avoidance, low self-directedness, low cooperativeness, and traits associated with avoidant PD. Consistent differences that emerge between ED groups are high constraint and persistence and low novelty seeking in AN and high impulsivity, sensation seeking, novelty seeking, and traits associated with borderline PD in BN. The meta-analysis, which found PD rates of 0 to 58% among individuals with AN and BN, documented that self-report instruments greatly overestimate the prevalence of every PD."

"Binge eating-a chronic problem among many African American women-is no less a disordered relation to food than habitual purging, and large women who don’t or won’t diet are not necessarily comfortable with their bodies."

"Eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN) and binge eating disorders (BED), are described as abnormal eating habits that usually involve insufficient or excessive food intake. Animal models have been developed that provide insight into certain aspects of eating disorders. Several drugs have been found efficacious in these animal models and some of them have eventually proven useful in the treatment of eating disorders. This review will cover the role of monoaminergic neurotransmitters in eating disorders and their pharmacological manipulations in animal models and humans. Dopamine, 5-HT (serotonin) and noradrenaline in hypothalamic and striatal regions regulate food intake by affecting hunger and satiety and by affecting rewarding and motivational aspects of feeding. Reduced neurotransmission by dopamine, 5-HT and noradrenaline and compensatory changes, at least in dopamine D2 and 5-HT(2C/2A) receptors, have been related to the pathophysiology of AN in humans and animal models. Also, in disorders and animal models of BN and BED, monoaminergic neurotransmission is down-regulated but receptor level changes are different from those seen in AN. A hypofunctional dopamine system or overactive α2-adrenoceptors may contribute to an attenuated response to (palatable) food and result in hedonic binge eating. Evidence for the efficacy of monoaminergic treatments for AN is limited, while more support exists for the treatment of BN or BED with monoaminergic drugs."

"Eating disorders, such as anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder, commonly involve a dysregulation of behavior (e.g., a lack or excess of inhibition and impulsive eating patterns) that is suggestive of prefrontal dysfunction. Functional neuro-imaging studies show that prefrontal-subcortical systems play a role in eating behavior and appetite in healthy individuals, and that people with eating disorders have altered activity in these systems. Eating behavior is often disturbed by illnesses and injuries that impinge upon prefrontal-subcortical systems. This study examined relationships between executive functioning and eating behavior in healthy individuals using validated behavioral rating scales (Frontal Systems Behavior Scale and Eating Inventory). Correlations demonstrated that increased dysexecutive traits were associated with disinhibited eating and greater food cravings. There was also a positive association with cognitive restraint of eating, suggesting that increased compensatory behaviors follow disinhibited eating. These psychometric findings reinforce those of other methodologies, supporting a role for prefrontal systems in eating."

"Studies comparing PSH with GSH found no significant differences between treatment groups at end of treatment or follow-up. Comparison between different types of PSH/GSH found significant differences on eating disorder symptoms but not on bingeing/purging abstinence rates."

"While abnormalities in central norepinephrine regulation may contribute to abnormal eating patterns in bulimia nervosa, alterations in function of the peripheral sympathetic nervous system could contribute to the decreased metabolic rate and increased anxiety responses previously reported in these patients. To assess beta-adrenergic receptor sensitivity in bulimic patients, we studied cardiovascular and hormonal responses to acute pharmacological challenge with intravenously administered isoproterenol. In comparison to healthy controls, binge-abstinent bulimic patients had significantly reduced mean baseline plasma norepinephrine level, pulse rate, and systolic blood pressure, and significantly increased chronotropic responses to isoproterenol infusion. Decreased sympathoneural activity may contribute to a tendency for bulimic patients to maintain body weight despite low caloric intake."

"Binge eating disorder (BED) was introduced in 1994 as a provisional eating disorder diagnosis. The core symptom is recurrent binge eating in the absence of inappropriate compensatory behaviors and/or extreme dietary restraint. This review examines the status of the literature on BED according to five criteria that have been proposed to determine whether BED warrants inclusion in the psychiatric nosology as a distinct eating disorder. We conclude that each of these criteria was met. There is a commonly accepted definition of and assessment approach to BED. The clinical utility and validity of BED have been established, and BED is distinguishable from both bulimia nervosa and obesity. BED should be included in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders"