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Article: Treat eating disorders concurrently: treatment will require intensive monitoring at the outset.
- Article from:
- Addiction Professional
- Article date:
- July 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Vendome Group LLC. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Treating an addiction to drugs or alcohol along with an eating disorder poses a challenge for even the best practitioners. Unfortunately, professionals encounter this combination of problems frequently. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University has reported that half of all people with eating disorders abuse drugs or alcohol, while up to 35% of people who abuse drugs or alcohol have an eating disorder.
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Eating disorders and substance abuse have much in common; in fact, many consider eating disorders to be an addiction. The compulsion to binge and purge can be as strong in a person with ...