Comprehensive Eating Disorders Dictionary for Parents Launched by F.E.A.S.T.

PR Log (Press Release) – Oct 26, 2009 – WARRENTON, VA -- An international eating disorders organization has launched the world’s first comprehensive dictionary on eating disorders for parents and caregivers.

The F.E.A.S.T. Eating Disorders Glossary  provides definitions and explanations for more than 400 terms and concepts used in the eating disorders field. F.E.A.S.T. (Families Empowered and Supporting Treatment of Eating Disorders Treatment) is an international non-profit organization supporting parents and caregivers of children suffering from eating disorders.

The new free online reference -- http://glossary.feast-ed.org -- contains entries for 35 different eating disorders and disturbances, along with 25 disorders or conditions that often are associated or co-exist with a clinical eating disorder. In addition, detailed explanations are provided for hundreds of terms used in the modern science of eating disorders, including diagnosis, psychological and therapeutic approaches, medical management of symptoms and complications, biology, pharmacology and clinical research.

The aim of the glossary is to give parents facing an eating disorders crisis an authoritative, easy-to-use reference that will help them quickly “get up to speed” on the technical terms and concepts they will encounter as they consider various treatment options for their child or adolescent, said Laura Collins, executive director of F.E.A.S.T.

“The eating disorders field is filled with arcane vocabulary and very complex concepts,” Ms. Collins said. “Parents need to understand these terms and concepts so they can understand what their doctors are telling them. This will enable them to ask the right questions and will ultimately empower them to play a productive role as a key member of the treatment team they put together to manage their child’s recovery.”

Though edited for a lay public, the F.E.A.S.T. eating disorders dictionary may also prove useful to non-specialist professionals and general practitioners, Ms. Collins said, noting that many nutritionists, psychologists and generalist doctors have not received formal training in the modern science of eating disorders.

Among the eating disorders explained in the glossary are: Anorexia Nervosa, Binge eating disorder, Bulimia nervosa , Compensatory Behaviors, Compulsive or compensatory exercise, Compulsive Overeating , Diabulimia, Eating Disorder not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS), Extreme exercising, Feeding Disorder of Infancy or Early Childhood , Female Athlete Triad , Food avoidance emotional disorder, Food refusal , Functional dysphagia, Hyperphagia, Marasmus , Muscle dysmorphia (also called Reverse anorexia or Bigorexia), Night Eating Syndrome (NES), Obesity, Orthorexia, PANDAS , Pathorexia, Pervasive refusal syndrome, Pica, Picky eating, Prader Willi syndrome (PWS), Purging disorder, Restrictive eating, Rumination disorder, and Selective eating.

In addition to the new glossary, FEAST  operates a general information website on eating disorders at http://feast-ed.org and it also operates a parent's forum at http://aroundthedinnertable.org .