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Brian Vastag

JAMA. 2001;285:1006-1007.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

New York—For therapist Steven Levenkron, MS, "I know what I'm doing" is more than an angry retort uttered by many of the patients with eating disorders he treats. It's a glimpse into the distorted thinking that signals when the illness has sunk to its nadir.

The flippant phrase is also a favorite among heroin addicts, a connection noted by Levenkron and others to transcend mere coincidence. Somewhere between 12% and 18% of people with anorexia nervosa abuse drugs, including alcohol and tobacco. Among those grappling with bulimia nervosa, 30% to 70% struggle with substance abuse, according to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University, New York. That means of the 5 million Americans who have a diagnosable eating disorder, including compulsive binge eating, perhaps a million abuse or are addicted to drugs.

ENTWINED ILLNESSES

The fact that eating disorders and drug abuse . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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