Among college-age women with high weight and shape concerns, an 8-week, Internet-based cognitive-behavioral intervention can significantly reduce weight and shape concerns for up to 2 years and decrease risk for the onset of EDs, at least in some high-risk groups. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show that EDs can be prevented in high-risk groups.

Objective Adult anorexia nervosa (AN) is associated with inefficient cognitive flexibility and set-shifting. Whether such inefficiencies also characterize adolescent AN is an important area of research. Method Adolescents with AN and matched controls were administered a computerized task that required initial learning of an explicit rule using corrective feedback and learning of a new rule after a set number of trials. Adult patients with AN and controls were also examined. Results Adolescents with AN did not differ from matched controls with respect to set-shifting cost (decrease in performance after rule change), whereas adults with AN had significantly greater set-shifting cost compared with controls. Discussion This study suggests that set-shifting inefficiencies may not be a vulnerability factor for AN development in adolescents with AN, but might become an important aspect of the disorder at later age, and could point towards developmental neurobiologic brain changes that could affect AN at different ages.

Recommended CitationStriegel, R H.; Taylor, C B.; Bryson, S; Celio Doyle, A A.; Luce, K H.; Cunning, D; Abascal, L B.; Rockwell, R; Field, A E.; Winzelberg, A J.; and Wilfley, D E., "The adverse effect of negative comments about weight and shape from family and siblings on women at high risk for eating disorders" (2006). Division III Faculty Publications. Paper 310.

Family therapy approaches have generated impressive empirical evidence in the treatment of adolescent eating disorders (EDs). However, the paucity of specialist treatment providers limits treatment uptake; therefore, our group developed the intensive family therapy (IFT)-a 5-day treatment based on the principles of family-based therapy for EDs. We retrospectively examined the long-term efficacy of IFT in both single-family (S-IFT) and multi-family (M-IFT) settings evaluating 74 eating disordered adolescents who underwent IFT at the University of California, San Diego, between 2006 and 2013. Full remission was defined as normal weight (≥ 95% of expected for sex, age, and height), Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) global score within 1 SD of norms, and absence of binge-purging behaviours. Partial remission was defined as weight ≥ 85% of expected or ≥ 95% but with elevated EDE-Q global score and presence of binge-purging symptoms (<1/week). Over a mean follow-up period of 30 months, 87.8% of participants achieved either full (60.8%) or partial remission (27%), while 12.2% reported a poor outcome, with both S-IFT and M-IFT showing comparable outcomes. Short-term, intensive treatments may be cost-effective and clinically useful where access to regular specialist treatment is limited.