Category: Kids at Risk (Winter 2008)

Esther Altmann, Ph.D. is a psychologist in private practice in Manhattan specializing in work with adolescents and families. She is an eating disorders consultant and on the teaching faculty at YCT Rabbinical School and the Drisha Institute.

Read the accompanying article here and the sidebar here.

I. Anorexia Nervosa

• Refusal to maintain normal weight for age and height
• Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat even though underweight
• Preoccupations with body weight and shape. Failure to realize the seriousness of low weight
• Amenorrhea – absence of a period for three consecutive months

II. Bulimia Nervosa

• Recurrent episodes of binge eating
• Recurrent compensatory behavior in order to prevent weight gain (vomiting, taking laxatives or diuretics, excessive exercising)
• Binge eating and inappropriate compensatory behaviors occur at least twice a week for 3 months
• Self-evaluation is unduly influenced by body shape and weight

III. Eating Disorders not otherwise specified

• This category includes features of the other two disorders without meeting full criteria (e.g., someone who has the thinking and behaviors of anorexia but might still be getting their period)

(DSM IV, 1994)