Eating Disorders and Young Adults

The most challenging part of our 14th Annual Education Conference on Saturday, April 12 is choosing which of the six workshops to attend in the afternoon. With the theme Young Adults and Mental Illness: Voice for Hope, each of the workshops will address a different issue affecting young adults, known as the Millennial Generation.

We've reviewed three workshops, Treatment in the Millennial Age, How Young Adults Can Afford the Affordable Care Act and Exploring Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation. Today we are highlighting a workshop that will address eating disorders among Millennials.

 

Eating Disorders and Young Adults: What You Need to Know

 

Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses that disproportionately affect adolescents and young adults, causing potentially devastating health consequences. This presentation will reivew the diagnostic criteria, onset and course for anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. Theories of causation including genetic, familial and personality factors, as well as cultural influences such as technology and media, will be discussed. Medical complications, the importance of medical monitoring and intervention will be explained. A review of empirically supported treatment interventions will be presented, with an emphasis on the family in treatment and recovery.

Presenter: Liz McCabe, PhD, Clinical Administrator for Eating Disorders and Behavioral Medicine, and Director of Social Work at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside.