Behavioral Health Bulletin

Issue 16, March 2023

Identifying Eating Disorders in Patients with Normal Bodyweight

This month we focus on the role of bodyweight in identifying eating and feeding disorders. Bodyweight should not be synonymous with severity when assessing for eating disorders: regardless of BMI, eating disorders cause myriad physiological and psychological symptoms and are often accompanied by significant distress and/or impairment. Continue reading to learn more about looking beyond BMI in screening for and diagnosing eating disorders.

Behavioral Health Events

Some events are CME-accredited; please refer to the individual event landing pages for details.


April 12, 2023

Mind Matters ECHO: CBT for Insomnia


May 10, 2023

Mind Matters ECHO


June 14, 2023

Mind Matters ECHO


March 30, 2023

Making Connections to Medicaid Behavioral Healthcare in NYC for Providers

Free virtual training offered by New York City Health Department's Division of Mental Hygiene. Gain an overview on Medicaid managed care plans and the services available under Medicaid to support people with a substance use disorder or serious mental illness.

Join us for the next Mind Matters ECHO



Our next Mind Matters ECHO meeting will be held on April 12, 2023 from 5:30-7:00pm.

Jenna Palladino, PsyD will share tips for engaging patients with sleep difficulties in CBT for Insomnia (CBT-I).


Patients with difficulty sleeping may come to you for benzodiazepines or other medications but the literature has shown CBT-I to be equally effective as medications with no side effects, fewer episodes of relapse, and a tendency for sleep to continue to improve long past the end of treatment.

Join Us
Behavioral Health Tip of the Month

Normal BMI does NOT rule out an eating disorder


While severely low body weight is a clear red flag to screen for an eating disorder normal body weight does not indicate the absence of an eating disorder.

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At our March Mind Matters ECHO, Tom Hildebrandt, PsyD and Eve Freidl, MD discussed the case of a woman in her mid 30s who presented with Binge Eating Disorder (BED) but was told repeatedly by physicians that she couldn't have an eating disorder as she was a healthy weight.


The DSM-5 criteria for anorexia nervosa includes significantly low body weight but the diagnostic criteria for BED and bulimia nervosa do not specify body weight at all, but rather, behaviors.


The DSM-5 also includes atypical anorexia nervosa where all of the criteria for anorexia nervosa are met but, despite significant weight loss, the patient's weight is within or above normal range.


Lastly, the DSM-5 offers the diagnosis Unspecified Feeding or Eating Disorder for patients whose behaviors around eating cause clinically significant distress or impairment but fall short of the full criteria for the other named disorders.


Use the 5-question Eating Disorder Screen for Primary Care (ESP) to identify patients who should be assessed further for an eating disorder.

Behavioral Health in the Literature

Atypical Anorexia in Youth: Cautiously Bridging the Treatment Gap



Atypical anorexia nervosa (AAN) is a restrictive eating disorder (ED) in which the criteria for anorexia nervosa is met with the exception of low bodyweight.

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Pediatric care providers are trained to identify and provide best practices for youth with pediatric obesity; however, most pediatric care providers are not trained to assess and treat restrictive EDs which typically present in youth aged 10 and 14 years.


Although individuals with AAN may appear to be within a "healthy weight," many experience malnutrition, psychological symptoms, and severe physiological complications after weight loss. These individuals are presenting to pediatric services at an increasing rate and exhibit acute medical instability along with severe ED psychopathology.


One complicating factor is youth with AAN may take longer to be identified by pediatric providers and may be reluctant to engage in treatment. Delayed treatment for AAN, along with all EDs often results in poorer treatment outcomes.


Learn more

CDC Clinical Outreach and Communication Activity

Prescribing opioids for chronic pain

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The CDC hosted a 7-part webinar series on opioids for pain management which are available online and with free continuing education credit.


The series covers dosing and titration, assessing benefits and harms, risk mitigation, patient communication, and alternative treatments.

Mount Sinai Health Library

Information to share with your patients: binge eating disorder



Peruse the Mount Sinai Health Library for information to share with your patients. With over 100 psychiatry topics presented in patient-friendly language, the Health Library can be a valuable source for your patients to help understand their diagnoses.


This month, share information about binge eating disorder (BED) with your patients.

Contact Us

P: 877-234-6667

F: 646-537-1481

E: MSHP@mountsinai.org

Provider Engagement Team