Since the founding of Kartini Clinic in 1998 we have operated under the assumption (then almost unheard-of) that anorexia nervosa is a biologically based, heritable human illness of the brain. For that reason we have always taken detailed family histories, and later in the early 2000’s began contributing towards what became a giant genetic study, and now at last reported on by lead author Cindy Bulik. On July 15th the results of the study were published in Nature Genetics: Genome-wide association study identifies eight risk loci and implicates metabo-psychiatric origins for anorexia nervosa ..read more

Some of you may be shocked by the concept of euthanasia for people with eating disorders -- we at Kartini Clinic certainly are.  The concept of 'assisted dying' has recently been a hot topic, along with the ethics of 'forced feeding'.  Below is the position statement of the FEAST organization, a parent-driven support network for those who have loved ones suffering from eating disorders.  They are powerful and vocal in the eating disorder community and they have taken on this issue headlong.  Kartini Clinic supports their stance and with their permission are reproducing it here as a guest blog ..read more

A peaceful, happy and healthy childhood with completion of developmental goals can be severely disrupted by illness, especially by chronic illness.   The developmental tasks of childhood and adolescence are roughly: to develop a physical body that will carry one through life   to develop an autonomous sexual identity to develop the capacity for critical thinking to develop the ability to communicate with the written word (be literate)   to make friends and sustain friendships and 6. to find an individual way to be a productive (and producing!) member of society. In the case of an eatin ..read more