Background: While most clinicians are comfortable with the nutritional and therapeutic aspects of eating disorder treatment, uncertainty is often found in reference to medication use. This presentation will look at both the medical and psychiatric symptoms of eating disorders and the medications commonly used to treat them.
Malnutrition and Medication: Using Medications in the treatment of eating disorders
- Introduction
- Medical complications of Eating Disorders
- Medications used to treat medical symptoms of Eating Disorders
- Common Psychiatric symptoms of Eating Disorders
- Psychotropic medications used to treat target symptoms of eating disorders
- Rationale for use of Psychotropic medications in the treatment of Eating Disorders (including mechanism of action, target symptoms and pathophysiology)
- Review of Psychiatric Literature concerning psychotropic medications and eating disorders
- Case presentations
- Conclusion
Malnutrition and Medication: Using Medications in the treatment of eating disorders
While most clinicians are comfortable with the nutritional and therapeutic aspects of eating disorder treatment, uncertainty is often found in reference to medication use. There continues to be a great amount of stigma in relation to medication and its utility. This presentation will look at both the medical and psychiatric symptoms of eating disorders and the medications commonly used to treat them. In addition, the presentation briefly reviews the psychiatric literature on psychotropic medications and eating disorders and discusses medications used clinically by psychiatrist to treat eating disorders based on mechanism of action and pathophysiology.
This presentation will include a didactic session with presentations from Lauren Ozbolt, MD, a child and adolescent psychiatrist with extensive eating disorder experience and Joel Jahraus, MD, FAED, CEDS, family physician caring for medical issues of eating disorder patients for many years. There will be a handout for all attendees and a Q&A session following the presentations.
Lauren Ozbolt, MD is a board certified child and adolescent psychiatrist with a sub-specialty in eating disorders. In the past, she has served as the Medical Director of the University of Miami Eating Disorder Program and Attending Psychiatrist of the Oliver-Pyatt Residential Eating Disorder Treatment Program. She has been interviewed on local and national television and radio programs for her expertise in eating disorders and body image. She currently is the Medical Director of Clementine, the Residential Adolescent Eating Disorder Program at the Oliver-Pyatt Centers, and operates a small private practice in Los Angeles.
Dr. Joel Jahraus is well-known and respected for his two decades of specialization in the medical management of patients with eating disorders. A board-certified physician for over 30 years, he is a recognized expert on diabetes and the medical complications of eating disorders. He co-authored a chapter on eating disorders in the Textbook of Psychosomatic Medicine, published by the American Psychiatric Association and has been featured in various national media documentaries on eating disorders. For his outstanding contributions to the field, he received the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2011.
