Eating Disorders Awareness Week: A Crisis in the Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa
Walter H. Kaye, MD, Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine.
At some point in their lives, nearly 28.8 million Americans will have an eating disorder, such as anorexia nervosa, the most lethal of psychiatric disorders after opioid overdose. Anorexia nervosa frequently requires prolonged hospitalization for weight restoration and medical stabilization. Altogether, treating eating disorders cost the United States more than $65 billion annually. More than 10,000 Americans die each year as a direct result of an eating disorder.
“We are facing a crisis in the treatment of anorexia nervosa, a debilitating, expensive, and frequently fatal illness,” write the authors of a viewpoint published in the February 24, 2021 online issue of JAMA Psychiatry.