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Antidepressants Do Not Significantly Benefit Anorexics
> 6/14/2006 9:24:12 AM

According to official estimates, more than three million Americans suffer from anorexia nervosa, a clinical obsession with weight loss which manifests itself through such behaviors as habitual binge and purge patterns and excessive exercise. Most often recorded among adolescent women, it is one of the most serious and commonly diagnosed psychiatric disorders, with more than ten percent of patients eventually dying due to related factors.

Prozac has long been a standard treatment for the affliction, but a new study finds that such antidepressants do not actively benefit anorexics and that patients on placebo actually reported higher success rates in maintaining a healthy body weight.

Anorexia is a chronically recurring disorder, and despite previous, contradictory studies, experts say that this recently published information will change the way it is treated on a large scale. Alternate treatments have included antipsychotic and mood stabilizing drugs as well as chemical elements similar to those found in marijuana, which often aids in regulating appetite.

Some argue that Prozac may still benefit patients unable to recieve additional psychotherapy while treated for eating disorders and that any treatment is better than none. In the meantime, therapists and physicians will continue the search for new ways to help the one percent of our country who deal with anorexia and related eating disorders every day.

Comments
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Posted by: James 6/14/2006 1:56:43 AM
I'm gonna have a king-size candy bar right away!

Posted by: Truffle 6/14/2006 4:49:18 AM