Summary

Eating disorders are better understood and recognized now than in years past, but they remain a serious health risk for many people. Celebrity icons and Internet models with "perfect" body types and faces are hugely popular in all media, encouraging many consumers to strive to mimic their favorites and live up to unrealistic ideals for appearance. More than eight million people in the United States, most of whom are adolescent girls and young women, have developed eating disorders. Although the problem may seem like a physical one, these disorders are believed to be psychological in nature. 

Eating Disorders, Second Edition explains major eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder. It also discusses their causes and risk factors as well as available treatments.

Specifications

eBook

About the Author(s)

Pamela K. Keel received a B.A. in anthropology from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Minnesota. She completed an internship at Duke University Medical Center and later joined the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. In 2003, she left Harvard to join the faculty in the Department of Psychology at the University of Iowa until she became a professor of psychology at Florida State University in 2008, where she is also a distinguished research professor. She has published more than 50 journal articles from her research and written several volumes in the Psychological Disorders series.

M. Foster Olive received his bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of California, San Diego, and went on to receive his Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA. He is currently an associate professor in the Behavioral Neuroscience Program in the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University. His research focuses on the neurobiology of addiction, and he has published in numerous academic journals including Psychopharmacology, The Journal of Neuroscience, and Nature Neuroscience. He has also authored Tourette Syndrome in the Psychological Disorders series and several volumes in the Understanding Drugs series, including titles such as Ecstasy, Heroin, and Morphine.