Cosmpolitan: On the front line of the eating disorder epidemic

Excited to be featured in this Cosmo UK article! Nothing gets me fired up quite like the subject of eating disorders and the lack of effective treatments for these conditions.

Despite the widespread prevalence (for instance, at least 1 in 10 Americans are expected to develop an eating disorder in their lifetime), they remain inadequately addressed. There are no FDA approved medications for anorexia, and only one for bulimia and binge eating disorder, respectively. Often clinicians wait until the diagnosis is crystal clear, holding off treatment until BMI is low enough / thyroid tests come back clear / you miss another period… But we need a sense of urgency! These conditions are serious and sometimes even life-threatening—you may be surprised to hear, but among mental health conditions, eating disorder have the highest mortality rate. Early interventions have better outcomes, but many patients still deal will chronic, enduring struggles with their eating disorder.

So this brings me to my passion for psychedelic medicine and the “crusade” I’ve been over the last 10+ years. Given the limited treatment options and difficulty to treat, we’re desperately in need of new and improved options for helping people with eating disorders. In the past two decades, there’s been a remarkable resurgence of research that supports the therapeutic use of psychedelic medicines for treating emotion-based disorders, including PTSD, depression, anxiety, addictions, eating disorders, and others.

Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is now emerging as a promising new treatment paradigm, where the use of psychedelics, paired with psychotherapy, has the potential to yield significant breakthroughs for individuals with difficult-to-treat mental health conditions, like eating disorders. The scientific literature certainly supports this and I’ve seen it without my own clients.

So with that in mind, check out the Cosmo article!