Several studies support the efficacy of interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) in the treatment of eating disorders. Treatment outcomes are likely to be augmented through a greater understanding, and hence treatment targeting, of the mechanisms whereby IPT induces therapeutic gains. To this end, the present paper seeks to develop a theoretical model of IPT in the context of eating disorders (IPT-ED). After providing a brief description of IPT, the IPT-ED model is presented and research supporting its theorized mechanisms is summarized. This model proposes that negative social evaluation plays a pivotal role as both a cause (via its detrimental impact on self evaluation and associated affect) and consequence of eating disorder symptoms. In the final section, key eating disorder constructs (namely, the developmental period of adolescence, clinical perfectionism, cognitive dysfunction, and affect regulation) are re-interpreted from the standpoint of negative social evaluation thereby further explicating IPT's efficacy as an intervention for individuals with an eating disorder.
Objective: Muscle dysmorphia is a relatively recently identified psychological condition that, since its inception, has been variously conceptualized as an eating disorder and subsequently as a type of body dysmorphic disorder within the somatoform disorders. This review aims to inform and encourage ongoing debate surrounding the diagnostic placement of this disorder.Method: We present a review and synthesis of the extant literature with a view to informing future decisions regarding the conceptualization of muscle dysmorphia.Results: The validity of muscle dysmorphia as a clinical entity has been empirically demonstrated. While the condition bears little semblance to somatization as currently conceptualized, the research suggests a strong conceptual similarity with anorexia nervosa. However, future research needs to utilize more appropriate measures of male eating disorder pathology. Muscle dysmorphia is also inclusive of obsessive compulsive features that are typical to those seen in eating disorder presentations.Discussion: We suggest that muscle dysmorphia be reanalyzed through the lens of an eating disorder spectrum. Recognition of muscle dysmorphia as an eating disorder may offer more clinical utility in recognizing the male experience of eating disorder pathology and also help reduce the number of current male cases falling into the EDNOS category. V V C 2010 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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