Hello again, AED community!

Since I last touched base with you all on this forum, we have had incredible feedback on the survey assessing ways to improve the newsletter to more effectively meet the needs of AED members. One of the most salient pieces of feedback that we will be incorporating into the newsletter is increased coverage of updates from the AED special interest groups (SIGs). The SIGs represent a broad range of clinical, advocacy, and research interests, whether you are a lifelong professional or new to the field of eating disorders, there is something for you. You can find a comprehensive list of the SIGs and how to join here.

We will continue highlighting one SIG in depth on a quarterly basis, but if you are a SIG chair and would like to briefly highlight an upcoming opportunity within your group (webinar, training, etc.), please email a brief (max 50 words) blurb to andiedchilson@gmail.com.

This issue, we are highlighting the newly established binge eating SIG, co-chaired by Andrea Goldschmidt and Janet Lydecker. The binge eating SIG creates a forum for AED members with both professional and personal experience with binge eating to learn from one another and increase their competency about this prolific and important topic within the field of eating disorders.

We will start ramping up with ICED 2025 content in the next couple of issues, but for immediate information on the venue, accommodations, and agenda please visit this page.

As always, if you have any feedback regarding ways we can make the newsletter a more valuable resource to you, please do not hesitate to email me.

Warmly,

Andie Chilson

AED Newsletter Editor

Binge eating is a transdiagnostic behavior that occurs in youth and adults, involving ingestion of large amounts of food while experiencing a sense of loss of control. Binge eating is a central diagnostic criterion for bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder, and can present in individuals with anorexia nervosa (i.e., binge/purge subtype), night eating syndrome, and other specified feeding or eating disorders.

The recently launched binge eating SIG aims to foster a community of AED members who study, treat, and have experience with binge eating across diagnoses and developmental stages. The SIG provides opportunities for individuals to learn from one another and increase our understanding of binge eating as well as the prevention, treatment, assessment, research, and advocacy-related needs about binge eating. To achieve this, the SIG creates forums to review recent research, work through clinical dilemmas, and provide support for professionals working with patients who engage in binge eating.

Ongoing initiatives include bi-monthly consultation groups to discuss challenging diagnostic and clinical issues, interpreting new data in the context of the larger field, and facilitating collaborations within the SIG and the larger AED community. On the horizon is a webinar on binge eating in males in January! We’re collecting questions now so that people can tell us what they want to hear about this survey and discussions at ICED on the heterogeneity of clinical presentations of people who engage in binge eating.

We encourage AED members of all career stages and professions to join and become involved in this SIG!

Meet the Binge Eating SIG Co-Chairs