Eating Disorders: What Everyone Needs to Know

Eating disorders are serious psychiatric illnesses that are frequently misunderstood. They typically begin during adolescence or early adulthood, a time when young people are heading to college or interviewing for a first job. Many people recover fully from eating disorders, but others become chronically ill, and symptoms persist into middle age and beyond. Eating Disorders: What Everyone Needs to Know® answers common questions about eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder, as well as a newly described condition, avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID).

B. Timothy Walsh, MD, is Ruane Professor of Psychiatry at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and founded Columbia's eating disorders research program over 40 years ago. Over the course of his career, he has published more than two hundred papers and received numerous grant awards from the National Institutes of Health. He has served as President of both of the major international eating disorders associations, and chaired the Eating Disorders Work Group for both DSM-IV and DSM-5. He has received awards from the American Psychiatric Association, the Academy for Eating Disorders, the National Eating Disorders Association, and the Association for Behavior and Cognitive Therapies.

Evelyn Attia, MD, is a Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Director of the Columbia Center for Eating Disorders at the NYS Psychiatric Institute and New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. She has dedicated her professional career to the study and treatment of individuals with eating disorders. Additionally, she is an active advocate for individuals with eating disorders and their families, speaking and educating about these challenging conditions to both academic and general public audiences. She serves on the board of the National Eating Disorders Association and, together with Drs. Glasofer and Walsh, she served as an editor for the Handbook of Assessment and Treatment of Eating Disorders.

Deborah R. Glasofer, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Clinical Medical Psychology (in Psychiatry) at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and clinical psychologist at the Columbia Center for Eating Disorders at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. She is involved in research on eating and weight disorders in adults and adolescents, and provides instruction and supervision for psychiatry residents, post-doctoral fellows, and other trainees in cognitive behavioral therapy for mood, anxiety, and eating disorders. She served as an editor for the Handbook of Assessment and Treatment of Eating Disorders, has written for Scientific American Mind, Psychology Today, The Huffington Post, Verywell, and The Feed, and can be followed on Twitter at @drglasofer