The mission of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is to reduce the burden of mental and behavioral disorders through research, and eating disorders embody an important fraction of this burden. Although past and current research has provided important knowledge regarding the etiology, classification, pathophysiology, and treatment of…

This paper discusses work with young people during their stay on an NHS psychiatric inpatient unit, especially focusing on the end of treatment and the appropriate timing of discharge into the community. When approaching the end of an admission, various factors are considered that seem particularly relevant to the decision of when a young person…

Background: There is growing evidence that family therapy is an effective treatment for adolescent anorexia nervosa. This study aimed to ascertain the long-term impact of two forms of outpatient family intervention previously evaluated in a randomised controlled trial (RCT). Method: A five-year follow-up was conducted on a cohort of 40 patients…

Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is now suggested to be the treatment of choice for bulimia nervosa. However, it is also known than no more than approximately 50% of patients recover after receiving CBT. When the first-line manual-based treatment fails, the therapist should use other empirically supported treatments, and if they do not work or…

The authors investigated mediators hypothesized to account for the effects of 2 eating disorder prevention programs using data from 355 adolescent girls who were randomized to a dissonance or a healthy weight intervention or an active control condition. The dissonance intervention produced significant reductions in outcomes (body…

The excessive influence of shape or weight on self-evaluation--referred to as overvaluation--is considered by some a central feature across eating disorders but is not a diagnostic requirement for binge eating disorder (BED). This study examined shape/weight overvaluation in 399 consecutive patients with BED. Participants completed semistructured…

This 18-month prospective study investigated factors that contributed to changes in eating disorder symptoms among adolescents living in the People's Republic of China. Five hundred forty-one Chinese middle school and high school students (182 boys, 359 girls) completed measures of eating disorder symptoms; body dissatisfaction; appearance ideal…

Research has suggested that rats increase their response rate for a low-valued reinforcer when a high-valued reinforcer will soon be available (i.e., positive induction) because the value of the low-valued substance has increased. The present study tested if such a procedure could be used to increase rats' responding for a non-reinforcing food.…

Objectified body consciousness (OBC)--the tendency to view oneself as an object to be looked at and evaluated by others--has received recent attention as a possible vulnerability factor for depression and disordered eating. Although OBC generally is discussed in developmental terms, extant research has examined primarily the experiences of…

Juvenile Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is a severe problem both in terms of presenting symptomatology and its tendency toward chronicity. Researchers have consistently shown that family-based approaches are superior to individual approaches for the treatment of juvenile AN. This article addresses the capacity deficit of trained family therapists to treat…

This brief discusses diet, exercise, body image, and weight and also provides information for practitioners on how to measure these factors among youth in their program. It summarizes (1) what it means to be overweight; (2) what are body image and eating disorders; (3) what to do if you suspect that someone in your program is suffering from an…

Social pressure to conform to the thin ideal is believed to play a decisive role in the development of eating disorders. In this field study at a college with only sophomore rush, 99 sorority women, 80 nonsorority women past their first year, and 86 first-year women completed three subscales of the Eating Disorders Inventory-2 (Garner, 1991), the…

The authors examined rapid response in 75 overweight patients with binge eating disorder (BED) who participated in a randomized clinical trial of guided self-help treatments (cognitive-behavioral therapy [CBTgsh] and behavioral weight loss [BWLgsh]). Rapid response, defined as a 65% or greater reduction in binge eating by the 4th treatment week,…

Objective: Assess validity of the ecSatter Inventory (ecSI) to measure eating competence (EC). Design: Concurrent administration of ecSI with validated measures of eating behaviors using on-line and paper-pencil formats. Setting: The on-line survey was completed by 370 participants; 462 completed the paper version. Participants: Participants…

We have reviewed the literature on the association between self-injurious behaviors (SIB) and eating disorders from the psychological-behavioral perspective. Our aims were to investigate the extent and possible reasons for the association. A literature search was conducted using the following electronic databases (1989-2005): Medline, PsychInfo…