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Looking into the mirror shouldn't be anyone's greatest fear.
To make that easier, the Ottawa Hospital is trying to find out how best to treat a common eating disorder.
With 3.6% of Canadian men and women struggling with Binge Eating Disorders (BED), researchers will test the usefulness of providing patients with self-help resources, intensive group therapy, or a combination of both.
BED is characterized by overeating with a sense of loss of control at least once a week, according to the hospital.
The trial will first offer a self-help manual to 150 men and women which will tell them about what BED is, why it happens, proper eating habits and ways to avoid binging.
During the 10-week self-help portion of the study, patients will receive little outside support.
"The idea is to mimic what might happen in a primary care setting, like with a family physician," said Dr. Giorgio Tasca, the psychologist leading the study.
Participants will also learn the common factors behind binge eating, such as relationship stress, depression, anxiety and interpersonal problems.
Following the first 10 weeks, the group will be split up. Half will spend 16 weeks receiving no follow-up care or treatment, while the other group with undergo intensive group therapy. The therapy they will get was developed at The Ottawa Hospital.
"The therapy really focuses on the issues that lead up to the binges," said Tasca, who said there is a strong correlation between people with BED and depression.
Those connections mean the total cost to the health care system for a patient with BED is 36% higher than the national average, Tasca said.
The idea is first to see how effective self-help is in treating BED on its own so primary care providers can be armed with the information to decide who will benefit from a more hands-off approach and who needs more help.
"The second part is, if we add that intensive treatment to (the self-help), is it value added? Is it worth the time and effort and money involved?" said Tasca.
The study is a rare one on a topic that is often talked about between doctors, but the practice of stepped care in eating disorders has rarely been tested in a supervised setting.
The study is partially funded by the Ontario Mental Health Foundation.
For more information on the study, e-mail bedstudy@toh.on.ca or call 613-798-5555, ext. 73011.
Twitter: @ChrisHofley
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Most common types of eating disorders
-Bulimia nervosa: characterized by eating excessive amounts of food in one sitting and then trying to compensate for the over-eating by ridding the body of the food.
-Anorexia nervosa: characterized by refusal to maintain normal body weight, often through starvation.
-Binge eating disorder (BED): characterized by over-eating with a sense of loss of control at least once a week, often resulting in obesity.
Source: Statistics Canada and The Ottawa Hospital
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Who develops eating disorders?
-Bulimia nervosa affects between 1% and 4% of women in Canada, while anorexia nervosa affects between 0.5% and 4%.
-Bing eating disorders affects 2% of all Canadians, men and women.
-About 90% of people with bulimia or anorexia are women, though a fairly even split of men and women suffer from binge eating disorders.
-Eating disorders most often start during the teen or young adult years.
Source: Canadian Mental Health Association
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Eating disorder resources in Ottawa
-Hopewell: Support centre for those with eating disorders, www.hopewell.ca, 613-241-3428
-Ottawa Eating Disorder Clinic: Provides outpatient assessment and treatment of a variety of eating disorders, in both adults and children, www.ocbt.ca, 613-729-0801
-Regional Centre for the Treatment of Eating Disorders, The Ottawa Hospital. Physician referral required, 613-737-8042
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Source: http://www.ottawasun.com/2013/03/11/ottawa-hospital-tackling-eating-disorders
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