Until recently, I admired the autism parent community from afar. Like the parents who awakened and changed the schizophrenia treatment world, parents of autistic children have moved both treatment and public opinion about the disorder almost 180 degrees from where it had been.

They did it fairly quickly, too: bringing autism from an obscure and stigmatized issue to a topic discussed openly in less than a generation.

I’ve watched with wonder as the autism world has developed and changed. While public knowledge, research funding, and public services aren’t adequate, they’ve come so far.

Anorexia nervosa generates a lot of interest, but advances in treatment have been slow and disappointing - especially in drug interventions.

In recent years a drug often used as an anti-psychotic in the treatment of schizophrenia has drawn more attention as an aid to the anxiety and obsessional thinking that can increase when nutrition is being re-stabilized and weight gain is under way.

Some research out of The Ottawa Hospital Regional Centre for the Treatment of Eating Disorders in Canada is adding to a growing interest in olanzapine during anorexia recovery. The Ottawa study was small, but confirms findings by others and a growing off-label use for this difficult to treat condition.

We grow closer and closer to an understanding of the mechanisms underlying addictions, and with that knowledge we also learn about other illnesses. It is not new to think of eating disorders as addictions, but the connection has often been one of analogy, not brain function.

In a piece in Scientific American magazine, an interesting exploration of the underlying mechanisms that may be at play with anorexia nervosa:

Addicted to Starvation: The Neurological Roots of Anorexia

"What is more, cultural cues cannot easily explain why the afflicted, who are shockingly skinny, misperceive themselves as fat.

When a child has a medical problem, doctors see the child and parent together. It would be unusual to have a clinician meet alone with a minor with an illness or injury or a regular check-up. But this situation is reversed in child psychology. Parents are often asked to wait outside while a child is evaluated, and young patients are assured that nothing they say has to be discussed with mom and dad. This safeguard is meant to make children feel safe, and allow safe disclosure of abuse, but parents unfamiliar with this convention in psychological treatment often report feeling uncomfortable and even judged as bad parents.

Dr. Cynthia Bulik, William R. and Jeanne H. Jordan Distinguished Professor of Eating Disorders at the University of North Carolina, spoke forcefully at yesterday's US Congressional Briefing organized by the Eating Disorders Coalition.

Bulik gave a 20-minute talk that could, if widely available, change the way society - and patients - look at eating disorders.

The research she cites is well-established, but still controversial among clinicians treating the illness.

Among the many benefits accruing from the Genetics of Anorexia Nervosa Collaborative Study funded by the NIH is the ability to study other issues related to AN. A recent paper on Suicide Attempts in Anorexia Nervosa published in Psychosomatic Medicine offers much-needed examination of an important topic.