There’s a medication for almost every illness, and that’s true for mental illnesses,including eating disorders. But how do they work, and how do they help? We’relaunching our fourth season of Butterfly: Let’s Talk with an investigation intomedications used to treat people with eating disorders, including some brand-newdevelopments that could offer hope. “Many people with an eating disorder will be prescribed some kind of psychiatricmedication,” says psychiatrist Professor Richard Newton, who has been working inthe sector since the 1980s. “But most of those treatments will be for associatedconcerns such as anxiety, depression, poor sleep, hearing voices, obsessive-compulsive disorder, etc. They’re more adjunct interventions and are not for theeating disorder itself.” Having suffered from an eating disorder since age 11, Emma has triedseveral different prescriptions. “I was first given a psychiatric medication when Iwas 14,” she tells us. “It was an antidepressant, and it helped. It showed me thatthere was something chemically not quite right.” Later, she was prescribedantipsychotics, that she says also helped. In this podcast, we talk about psilocybin, the psychedelic chemical associated withmagic mushrooms. "Psychedelic drugs offer an incredible way to access an altered state of consciousness that can change how people think about their behaviour,” says neurologist and researcher Dr Claire Foldi. While psilocybin is stillundergoing clinical trials, she's upbeat about its potential for eating disorders. We also go into depth with Dr Kristi Griffiths, who has studied Vyvanse, a stimulanttraditionally prescribed for ADHD, now being used to treat people with BulimiaNervosa and Binge Eating Disorder. “In one randomized study," she says, "Peoplewho took Vyvance over a set period had around a 4% relapse rate. That's apretty low rate.” Listen to our experts and Emma, who believes that she is well into recovery thanks in part to her medications. Perhaps this episode will offer insights for you, your client’s or your loved one’s treatment plan.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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