New Developments in Eating Disorders Research


Book Description

The abundance of food in the developed countries of the world has seemingly spawned an epidemic of disorders connected to the food. Extremes such as intensive concern about one's body image and total disregard for it have resulted in countries which contain enormous segments of the population who are either obese and proud of it or bordering on anorexia nervosa. This new book gathers state-of-the-art research from leading scientists throughout the world which offers important information on understanding the underlying causes and discovering the most effective treatments for eating disorders.




Handbook of Assessment and Treatment of Eating Disorders


Book Description

The recent publication of the revised Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5®) has had a profound impact on the classification of eating disorders, introducing changes that were formalized after years of study by the Eating Disorders Work Group. The Handbook of Assessment and Treatment of Eating Disorders is the only book that provides clinicians with everything they need to know to implement these changes in assessment, diagnosis, and treatment. After an overview of feeding and eating disorders that systematically reviews the changes from DSM-IV to DSM-5®, some of the foremost scholars in each area address eating disorders in adults, children and adolescents, and special populations. Chapters on assessment and treatment, along with accompanying videos, offer comprehensive, state-of-the-art coverage that will benefit clinicians in practice, such as psychiatrists and psychotherapists, as well as mental health trainees. Clinicians will find the following features and content especially useful: Five full chapters on assessment tools cover the evolution of measures and instruments, from the primitive beginnings to the cutting edge of new technological applications. The challenges of diagnosing feeding and eating disorders in children and adolescents are also addressed. Treatment chapters cover restrictive eating, including anorexia nervosa and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, binge eating, including bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder, and other eating problems, including pica, rumination disorder, and night eating syndrome. One chapter focuses on eating problems among men and boys, who have diverse presentations, and the motivations and body image disturbances that may differ from those typically found among females. Because attunement to culturally and socially patterned characteristics of clinical presentation is essential to an informed and accurate mental health assessment, an entire chapter is devoted to clinical effectiveness in multicultural and cross-cultural settings. Each chapter ends with key clinical points to help readers focus on the most salient content, test comprehension, and review for examinations. Clinicians in both training and practice will find the book's up-to-date, DSM-5®--compatible content to be utterly essential. The Handbook of Assessment and Treatment of Eating Disorders belongs in the library of every mental health professional practicing today.










Family-Based Treatment for Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder


Book Description

This book describes the theoretical and clinical rationale for the use of Family-Based Treatment (FBT) for Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). Based on years of clinical care and systematic study of children and adolescents with ARFID using Family-Based Treatment for Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (FBT-ARFID), the manual provides guidance about assessment of ARFID. Topics covered include how to incorporate the medical, nutritional, and psychiatric problems that are common with this disorder and how to evaluate the principle maintaining behaviors related to lack of interest or appetite, extreme sensory sensitivities to food, and fear of physical repercussions of eating (e.g. pain, vomiting, allergic reactions). Step-by-step illustrations of the key interventions in FBT-ARFID are provided and detailed case discussions demonstrate how these are implemented in a range of cases. Ideal for clinical practitioners who treat children and adolescents with eating disorders, specifically, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and allied health practitioners.




Eating Disorders and the Brain


Book Description

Why is the brain important in eating disorders? This ground-breaking new book describes how increasingly sophisticated neuroscientific approaches are revealing much about the role of the brain in eating disorders. Even more importantly, it discusses how underlying brain abnormalities and dysfunction may contribute to the development and help in the treatment of these serious disorders. Neuropsychological studies show impairments in specific cognitive functions, especially executive and visuo-spatial skills. Neuroimaging studies show structural and functional abnormalities, including cortical atrophy and neural circuit abnormalities, the latter appearing to be playing a major part in the development of anorexia nervosa. Neurochemistry studies show dysregulation within neurotransmitter systems, with effects upon the modulation of feeding, mood, anxiety, neuroendocrine control, metabolic rate, sympathetic tone and temperature. The first chapter, by an eating disorders clinician, explains the importance of a neuroscience perspective for clinicians. This is followed by an overview of the common eating disorders, then chapters on what we know of them from studies of neuroimaging, neuropsychology and neurochemistry. The mysterious phenomenon of body image disturbance is then described and explained from a neuroscience perspective. The next two chapters focus on neuroscience models of eating disorders, the first offering an overview and the second a new and comprehensive explanatory model of anorexia nervosa. The following two chapters offer a clinical perspective, with attention on the implications of a neuroscience perspective for patients and their families, the second providing details of clinical applications of neuroscience understanding. The final chapter looks to the future. This book succinctly reviews current knowledge about all these aspects of eating disorder neuroscience and explores the implications for treatment. It will be of great interest to all clinicians (psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, dieticians, paediatricians, physicians, physiotherapists) working in eating disorders, as well as to neuroscience researchers.







Eating Disorders in Sport


Book Description

Over the past fifteen years, there has been a great increase in the knowledge of eating disorders in sport and effective means of treatment. In this book, the authors draw on their extensive clinical experience to discuss how to identify, manage, treat, and prevent eating disorders in sport participants. They begin by examining the clinical conditions related to eating problems, including descriptions of specific disorders and a review of the relevant literature. Special attention is given to the specific gender and sport-related factors that can negatively influence the eating habits of athletes. The second half of the book discusses identification of participants with disordered eating by reviewing symptoms and how they manifest in sport; management issues for sport personnel, coaches, athletic trainers, and healthcare professionals; treatment; and medical considerations, such as the use of psychotropic medications. A list of useful resources is included in an appendix, as well as a glossary of important terms.




The Developmental Psychopathology of Eating Disorders


Book Description

Although eating problems--ranging from body dissatisfaction and dieting to anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa--can begin and typically have their roots in childhood, theory and research in developmental psychopathology and developmental psychology have not received substantial attention in eating disorders research. This book provides crucial background material from both fields, and then makes direct applications to numerous aspects of the field of eating disorders including theory, research, treatment, and primary prevention. This book was born out of a transaction between frustration and optimism. The frustrations reflected the limitations of current knowledge about eating problems and disorders. Etiological "causes" which are sensitive and specific to eating disorders have been elusive. Although there is some understanding of risk factors, little is known about protective factors. This has made prevention, among other things, difficult. Furthermore, the mechanisms underlying the association between risk factors and disordered eating are poorly understood. For example, it is known that women are at greater risk than men are, but clinicians are hard- pressed to get beyond gender-based speculations and demonstrate why this is true. The optimism grows from familiarity with the field of developmental psychopathology. It seems evident that this approach has much to offer the field of eating disorders. This book is an early step in the integration of developmental psychopathology into theorizing, research, treatment, and prevention of eating disorders. It addresses four specific goals: * to introduce the principles and methodologies of developmental psychopathology, * to review the work of developmental psychologists in several major areas of behavior relevant to understanding the causes, treatment, and prevention of eating disorders, * to apply developmental psychopathology principles to the area of eating disorders, both in the form of theoretical models and in specific areas/issues raised by developmental psychopathology, and * to discuss the implications of developmental approaches for prevention programs and treatments.




Behavioral Neurobiology of Eating Disorders


Book Description

The intention of this book was to have investigators describe an expert opinion on their field of research and cutting-edge work in their laboratory on the neurobiology and treatment of eating disorders.