From the Director's Chair

Dr. Mary Tantillo	Dr. Richard Kreipe

March - 2006

The following is an editorial that was published in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle on 3/2/06, written by Dr. Mary Tantillo and Dr. Richard Kreipe. Kreipe is director, Child and Adolescent Eating Disorders Program, Golisano Children's Hospital, and medical director, Western New York Comprehensive Care Center for Eating Disorders; Tantillo is director, Unity Health Eating Disorders Program.

National Eating Disorders Awareness Week

Cutting Eating Disorders Down to Size

Getting a handle on eating disorders: being comfortable in your genes: That theme of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, Feb. 26-March 4, illustrates the internal conflicts that can lead to eating disorders. Although biological factors may influence body size or shape and genetics may play a role in eating disorders, people who have unrealistic expectations about weight may be driven to anorexia nervosa, bulimia or binge eating. If jeans are tight, people may assume that they are too large, not that the clothes are too small. This assumption often emerges from long-held feelings of ineffectiveness, or a lack of identity or sense of control.

Biology also plays an important role in eating disorders. The highest risk for developing an eating disorder is having an identical twin with one, and people with eating disorders often have disturbances in brain chemicals such as serotonin. Genes don't "cause" an eating disorder, but traits like the tendency toward depression or anxiety, known to have genetic links, appear to increase a person's vulnerability. Treatment and recovery need to focus on strengths.

The experience of hope and possibility for change continue to grow with the recent creation of the Western New York Comprehensive Care Center for Eating Disorders based in Rochester. This center is a partnership of Golisano Children's Hospital at Strong (for children and adolescents) and Unity Health System (for adults). It will provide developmentally appropriate services and settings; community outreach to facilitate referral and prevention education; and it will do research.

Two unique elements of the new center include:

• Sage House http://www.thesagehouse.org/ , operated by DePaul Community Services, which offers a safe and supportive living environment for women older than 17 in treatment for their eating disorder.
  
  
• A residential program for adolescents at St. Joseph's http://www.stjosephsvilla.org/ ready to serve youth and families statewide. It initially will offer therapeutic apartment arrangements for patients, providing supervision and support to them on the evenings, nights and weekends; families will be given support and education regarding illness management on weekends. During startup, residents will attend weekday sessions of Unity's Partial Hospitalization Program, but with added funding, the plan is to locate the full 24-hour, seven-day-per-week programming at St. Joseph's Villa within the next year.

No program can change genes. However, we encourage people with eating disorders to engage in strategies to change and start to feel comfortable in their genes and their jeans.

To learn more:
For more information,
call Unity Health System OnCall: (585) 368-3000.