Renowned eating disorder researcher available ahead of National Eating Disorder Awareness Week.

Kelly Klump ([email protected]), specializes in the etiology of eating disorders, as well as genetic and neurobiological risk factors. She is available to speak to media about disordered eating ahead of National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, Feb. 24-March 2.  

Dr. Klump (who has served as President of the Academy for Eating Disorders) recently participated in a Q&A with on how COVID is affecting disordered eating.

Research from Klump published in 2020 also includes the following:

• One study was one of the first to look at the prevalence of eating disorders and disordered eating symptoms in women with mood and anxiety disorders from the general population. The researchers examined disordered eating symptoms in 535 women with and without major depression or an anxiety disorder and found that almost 40% of participants with a history of major depression or an anxiety disorder had experienced clinically significant disordered eating behaviors over their lifetime, compared to only 11% of women with no history of mood/anxiety disorders. Our findings suggest that women with depression and anxiety are at significant risk for disordered eating, and that it is important to screen for EDs in these populations.  

• Another study (also among first of its kind) looked at how a person’s ability to differentiate between related emotions (e.g., to distinguish between anger and sadness) is related to binging and emotional eating. In a sample of 482 women, they found that women with a history of binge eating tended to differentiate less between positive emotions; so they were worse at distinguishing between pride and excitement (there were similar results for negative emotions, but they were not quite as strong). We hypothesized that women who differentiate less between positive emotions could be more likely to turn to food when they want to feel good, as opposed to seeking out different kinds of positive experiences.