About Richard E. Kreipe, MD, FAAP, FSAHM, FAED
For 40 years, my academic and clinical activities have focused on adolescent medicine, informed by the biopsychosocial model, within the context of the processes of adolescence, and a developmental framework that emphasizes a youth’s personal strengths, assets, and positive qualities, rather than weaknesses, deficits, or problems. With respect to the evaluation and treatment of an adolescent or young adult affected by an eating disorder, rather than focusing on symptoms of mental illness, there is benefit in considering a youth’s personal experience of adolescence with respect to four transformations that can be directly linked to the development and maintenance of the condition: 1) girl-to-woman or boy-to-man for females and males, respectively (puberty); 2) child-to-adult (identity); 3) childhood-to-adulthood (autonomy); and 4) reactive-to-proactive behaviors and thinking as brain circuitry matures between 12 and 25 years of age (brain development).
Clarity on anorexia nervosa: from childhood through motherhood
Jessica turned 38 years old on the day that her story was posted on The Diary Healer. After reading her insightful account and seeing the photo of her carefully cradling her newborn child, flanked by her two daughters, I asked myself, “Is this the same person you treated for restrictive anorexia nervosa a quarter-century ago? ..
When your child says “I hate you” remember that’s their eating disorder voice
You are a “good enough” parent. Remember this. Twelve years after launching a blog to raise awareness of eating disorders, your stories continue to shine brightly on the dark crevices where the eating disorder hides. Your stories help us to help each other. Recently, a mother emailed from Europe. She had read a 2019 post on..
‘To run you have to eat’ – how self-determination set Audry free from anorexia
The second article in a “patient and doctor” series on understanding eating disorders Dr. Richard Kreipe’s recollection of treating Audry After more than five years of treatment for restrictive anorexia nervosa in various inpatient and outpatient settings in which she was unable to achieve or maintain a minimal healthy body weight, Audry was branded as..