Spotlight on Eating Disorders

Eating Disorders Awareness Week (26 February – 3 March 2024) is an opportunity to bring a spotlight on eating disorders and to improve awareness of the impact that eating disorder can have on children and young people. This Eating Disorder Awareness Week, we encourage you to explore the FREE learning opportunities available on our website, and to share with your networks.

In 2019, it was estimated that almost 3 million children and young people worldwide experienced eating disorders (WHO, 2022). Defined by the negative beliefs and behaviours they cause people to have about themselves and their eating, body shape, and weight, eating disorders can have several implications on a person’s physical and mental health, as well as on their development (NICE 2020, Schmidt et al, 2016).

Four new podcasts released to celebrate Eating Disorders Week

RESHAPE Study: Key Takeaways on Eating Disorders

In this podcast Professor Tamsin Ford?(pic below) and Clara Faria explore the findings from the ‘National Study of Health and Wellbeing: Children and Young People’ as they relate to eating disorders, and why these findings are important. RESHAPE or ‘REflecting on the impactS of covid-19 on cHildren And young People in England: exploring experiences of lockdown, service access and education’ is a large study looking at how life changed for children, young people, and parents during the lockdown and how this may have affected them.

Discussion points include; Design and the methods used to measure the number of children and young people with eating disorders. Correlation between an increase in population-level prevalence of eating disorders and help seeking. Umet needs of children and young people with eating disorders. Recommendations for commissioners, and about future interventions.

Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)

Dr. Emma Willmott and Dr. Tom Jewell (pic) from the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust and KCL, discuss Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) in these two podcasts. Episode One explores ‘ARFID: Prevalence and Implications’ with a look at; An overview of ARFID and what underlies the dietary restriction. Similarities and differences in how ARFID may present and people’s experiences of ARFID. Prevalence of ARFID and how it differs from Anorexia Nervosa. Difference between ARFID and picky or fussy eating. The co-morbidity between Autism and ARFID.

Episode Two explores ‘ARFID: Psychological Interventions and Outcomes’ focuses on their recently published scoping review including; Different intervention modalities for ARFID. The lack of consistency when measuring change in patients with ARFID and how best to measure recovery for patients with ARFID. Recommendations on next steps to advance knowledge of ARFID and effective treatments. Advice and resources for non-specialist eating disorder clinicians.

Performing Well but not Appreciating it – A Trait Feature of Anorexia Nervosa

In this Papers Podcast, Professor Kerstin von Plessen (pic below) discusses her co-authored JCPP Advances paper ‘Performing well but not appreciating it – A trait feature of anorexia nervosa’. There is an overview of the paper, methodology, key findings, and implications for practice. Discussion points include: What is currently known about the relationship between perfectionism and anorexia nervosa. A novel behavioural method for measuring perfectionism. Why it is important to look beyond self-evaluation reports. The implications of participants, who have recovered from anorexia nervosa, having evaluated their performances significantly more negatively than their respective controls. Implications of findings from clinicians and CAMH professionals.

An Overview of Psychological Interventions for Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)

In this blog Dr. Emma Willmott and Dr. Tom Jewell summarise the existing literature on Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), and highlight areas for further research.

Marking its tenth anniversary as a diagnosis, our scoping review summarised 50 studies reporting on psychological interventions and outcomes for Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). In the absence of clinical guidelines to support clinicians, our review highlights that a range of psychological interventions can be implemented to support children and young people with ARFID. ?

FREE Topic Guide

Each of our mental health Guides contains our evidence based research. Whether you are new to the Topic or want to find the latest research, here is your starting point. Take a look at our Guide on Eating Disorders.

The exact cause of eating disorders is not known, but it’s likely that there are several factors at play, rather than one single identifiable cause; for example, a mix of social, biological, psychological and interpersonal causes. In most cases, eating disorders start in adolescence, but they are often not picked up until adulthood. However, the earlier treatment starts, the better the long-term outcomes. Current research supports the use of several types of psychotherapies, including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), interpersonal and family-based therapies, as well as some medications for the treatment of eating disorders.

Selected papers on Eating Disorders from our Journals

Reciprocal associations between parental feeding practices and child eating behaviours from toddlerhood to early childhood: bivariate latent change analysis in the Gemini cohort

Open Access paper from the JCPP

Parental feeding practices (PFPs) are a key component of a child’s food environment. Parent–child feeding relationships are hypothesised to be bidirectional; however, to date, few large prospective studies have examined this, instead focussing on unidirectional relationships. As such, the direction of relationships between PFPs and children’s eating behaviours remains unclear.

Authors: Alice R. Kininmonth, Moritz Herle, Emma Haycraft, Clare Farrow, Kristiane Tommerup, Helen Croker, Abigail Pickard, Katie Edwards, Jacqueline Blissett, Clare Llewellyn

Shifting age of child eating disorder hospitalizations during the Covid-19 pandemic

Open Access paper from the JCPP

We analyzed eating disorder hospitalizations in children aged 10–19?years before and during the pandemic. We used interrupted time series regression to assess trends in the monthly number of hospitalizations for anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and other eating disorders before the pandemic (April 2006 to February 2020), and during the first (March to August 2020) and second waves (September 2020 to March 2021). We determined the types of eating disorders requiring hospital treatment and identified the age, sex and socioeconomic subgroups that were most affected.

Authors: Nathalie Auger, Howard Steiger, Thuy Mai Luu, Nicholas Chadi, Nancy Low, Marianne Bilodeau-Bertrand, Jessica Healy-Profitós, Aimina Ayoub, émilie Brousseau, and Mimi Isra?l

Current evidence for avoidant restrictive food intake disorder: Implications for clinical practice and future directions

Open Access paper from JCPP Advances

A narrative review was conducted to synthesise the findings of ARFID papers in scientific journals focussing on four key areas relevant to clinical practice: prevalence, assessment and characterisation of clinical presentations, treatment, and service delivery. Freely available online databases were searched for case studies and series, research reports, review articles, and meta-analyses. Findings were reviewed and practice implications considered, resulting in proposed clinical recommendations and future research directions.

Authors:?Tanith Archibald, Rachel Bryant-Waugh