The American journal of psychiatry
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This study sought to determine whether a set of symptoms interpreted as complicated grief could be identified and distinguished from bereavement-related depression and whether the presence of complicated grief would predict enduring functional impairments. ⋯ The symptoms of complicated grief may be distinct from depressive symptoms and appear to be associated with enduring functional impairments. The symptoms of complicated grief, therefore, appear to define a unique disorder deserving of specialized treatment.
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The literature on the prevalence and importance of hypokalemia in persons with eating disorders in contradictory and confusing. The authors investigated the frequency of hypokalemia and its relationship to symptoms in a group of outpatients with eating disorders. ⋯ The low frequency of hypokalemia in this group of eating disordered outpatients suggests that routine electrolyte determination is a poor screening tool for occult or denied bulimia. Hypokalemia occurred almost invariably in lower-weight bulimic (or anorectic/bulimic) patients who were vomiting and/or abusing laxatives. Indeed, the study suggests that hypokalemia in a patient with an eating disorder is virtually certain evidence that the patient is purging at least daily. In addition, it appears that a patient with purely restricting anorexia nervosa is not at risk for hypokalemia even if his or her weight is very low.