While eating disorders are known to be more prevalent among certain industries and professions including modeling, acting, and athletics to name a few, many of us tend to think of disordered eating as a problem largely seen in North America, where the media, in both print and television, often equate beauty with being thin. However, in the article "Argentine City Takes Beauty Off Its Pedestal", we are reminded that eating disorders including anorexia and bulimia, as well as other harmful behaviours designed to achieve the perfect ideal of beauty, do exist in continents and countries other than our own. Specifically, this article highlights how prevalent eating disorders are in Argentina, and how many feel local beauty pageants are to blame for perpetuating the problem. As a result, Chivilcoy, a city in the province of Buenos Aires, has banned their municipal beauty pageant and plan to replace it with an award based on community service work rather than one's physical looks. "Argentina’s obsession with certain standards of female beauty has contributed to some of the world’s highest rates of eating disorders among women. Attention to female beauty is so prevalent here that a former Miss Argentina trying to maintain her youthful appearance recently died of complications from plastic surgery intended to make her buttocks firmer." Put your knowledge and skills to the test with the case of a 48 year old female who presents to hospital with a 3-day history of vomiting and lack of bowel movements. The patient has a history of pica particularly when pregnant, however the urge to eat pencils and paper products like cardboard have become uncontrollable since she's had gastric bypass surgery 2 years ago. The patient's past psychiatric history is positive for anxiety, depression, personality disorder symptoms, and she reports that after eating pencils/paper she feels "intense relaxation". Can you determine the cause of this patient's pica symptoms or come up with a treatment plan? What mental health conditions can pica sometimes be associated with? "A Taste for the Unusual" by Christopher Rodgman and Daniel Winstead (Current Psychiatry) Have you heard of drunkorexia? If not, drunkorexia = an "eating disorder with a co-morbidity with alcoholism" or more commonly it refers to the combination of alcohol misuse (most often binge drinking) and disordered eating behaviours. Drunkorexia has been gaining more attention recently by the media and researchers alike as it seems to be a growing trend and fad diet, particularly among young people and most especially among young women. In fact, based on recent studies, it's thought that over 15% of college students engage in 'drunkorexic behaviours' whether it be to prevent weight gain, to get drunk more quickly, or for financial reasons. As one may expect, drunkorexia is not considered a healthy lifestyle or behaviour by healthcare professionals and in fact "drunkorexia could also have dangerous cognitive, behavioural and physical consequences, as well as putting people at risk for developing more serious eating disorders and addiction problems. "Apart from each other, depriving the brain of adequate nutrition and consuming large amounts of alcohol can be dangerous," she [Victoria Osborne, Assistant Professor of Social Work and Public Health at the University of Missouri] said. "Together, they can cause short- and long-term cognitive problems including difficulty concentrating, studying and making decisions." You can find out more about drunkorexia by checking out the articles below:
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Supporting and enhancing students' and health professionals' knowledge and understanding of mental health and psychiatry
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