The aim of this study is to evaluate the recent literature on carers/parenting interventions for people with eating disorders. Interesting and important new findings are highlighted as well as the implications that this may have for treatment. We have reviewed and critically analysed the recent literature. Close others often play an important role in recognising the early signs of eating disorders and accessing and implementing treatment. Their role in helping with recovery is to give support and hold a united front themselves and with the professional team to avoid those common interpersonal reactions that adversely impact on outcome such as accommodating to the illness and reacting with high expressed emotion (overprotection and hostility). Managing this role is difficult, and coping resources are often strained. Carers ask for and are now getting expert training in skills to manage this role. There is an overlap between carer/parenting interventions and family therapies. The interface with close others is critical both for early recognition and access and implementation of treatment. Interventions which equip families and close others with the skills to manage eating disorder behaviours are showing potential at improving outcomes.
Adolescents with AN and ASD traits show similar reductions in their eating disorder symptoms. Nevertheless, their social difficulties remain high suggesting that these are life-long difficulties rather than starvation effects.
Although there seems to be a relationship between attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and eating disorders, the reduced number of studies available, with various methodologies, and small sample sizes limit the generalization of the findings.
Inefficient food-specific inhibitory control is a potential mechanism that underlies binge eating in bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. Go/no-go training tools have been developed to increase inhibitory control over eating impulses. Using a within-subjects design, this study examined whether one session of food-specific go/no-go training, versus general inhibitory control training, modifies eating behaviour. The primary outcome measure was food consumption on a taste test following each training session. Women with bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder had small non-significant reductions in high-calorie food consumption on the taste test following the food-specific compared with the general training. There were no effects on eating disorder symptomatic behaviour (i.e. binge eating/purging) in the 24 h post-training. The training task was found to be acceptable by the clinical groups. More research is needed with larger sample sizes to determine the effectiveness of this training approach for clinical populations.
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