Children of Mothers with Eating Disorders: A Preliminary Study

Hodes, Matthew; Timimi, Sami; Robinson, Paul H.

doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-0968(199703)5:1<11::aid-erv179>3.0.co;2-7

Cited by 31 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Throughout the history of mental illness, it has been determined that psychiatric disorders in parents have a detrimental effect on their children (Stein 1995, Rutter & Quinton 1984 and it has been established that children of mothers with an eating disorder are at greater risk of developing the illness themselves (Stein et al 2006, Hodes et al 1997, Stein 1995, Sourfield 1995, Stein et al 1993. As early as 1860, Louis Victor Marce noticed that inherited psychopathologies were prominent in families of young women with what was yet to be diagnosed as anorexia nervosa (Strober & Bulik 2002).…”

Section: Heritabilitysupporting

confidence: 92%

“…I will discuss later in this study the evidence that has established that the children of eating disordered mothers are at greater risk of developing the disorders themselves (Stein et al 2006, Park et al 2003, Hodes et al 1997, Stein 1995, Sourfield 1995, Stein et al 1993. It is understood by observation and research into child development that all children grow and develop by watching and mirroring their mother or main care giver (Kohut 1984, Winnicott 1960, so it seems evident that if the mother is lacking in her own autonomous states and her behaviour is overtly dysfunctional, that the child will internalise and eventually display this behaviour.…”

Section: To Conduct a Group Interventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Eating disorders from parent to child: Mothers’ perceptions of transgenerational effect

Barnett

2005

Couns and Psychother Res

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Primary prevention focuses on the reduction of risk factors. Children of mothers with an eating disorder are a proven “at risk” group, because children internalise their experiences. Prevention in the field of eating disorders has as yet only addressed children of seven or eight upwards and only in school‐based programs which did not incorporate mothers. This project targeted mothers with an eating disorder who had children under the age of thirteen. The hypothesis is that if these mothers can be encouraged to change damaging behaviour that their children are likely to model, we can attempt to break the cycle of dysfunction. This is a qualitative and quantitive research project, carried out with standardised measures and semi‐structured interviews before and after a nineteen week therapy group, with six and twelve month follow ups. The group consisted of eight mothers. This paper describes the group and provides a case study of one participant. The initial analysis suggests that the support of a therapeutic group allowed this mother enough space for reflection. She became aware of her dysfunctional behaviour and was able to begin to understand the underlying reasons behind it. This led to an improvement in her own Eating Disorder (ED) and she was subsequently able to make change in her responses to her children's needs.

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Section: Heritabilitysupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: To Conduct a Group Interventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eating disorders from parent to child: Mothers’ perceptions of transgenerational effect

Barnett

2005

Couns and Psychother Res

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“…Past investigations have proposed that the offspring of women with BN may be at risk of becoming obese; 315,343 findings from the present study showed that boys of women from all exposed groups had higher adiposity than boys of unexposed women, with the difference being more pronounced at the age of 5 years. Taking into consideration that boys of mothers with other psychiatric problems have similar BMI trajectories to those of unexposed mothers, the differences we found in growth trajectories in the offspring of mothers with EDs may be specific to maternal eating pathology.…”

Section: Gender Differencesmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…Furthermore, these results are similar to previous case studies and those with younger children that show that children of women with AN do not grow as much as those of unexposed women. 321,343,345 Past research has shown that mothers with an ED are more concerned with their daughters' weight and shape than with their sons', 346 and that their daughters may have a higher chance of becoming underweight than thier sons. 343 Results from the current studies support gender-specific growth trajectories; however, as our growth models were built separately for each gender, we were unable to examine gender interactions.…”

Section: Gender Differencesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Treatment of anorexia nervosa: a multimethod investigation translating experimental neuroscience into clinical practice

Schmidt

Sharpe

Bartholdy

et al. 2017

Programme Grants Appl Res

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BackgroundAnorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe psychiatric condition and evidence on how to best treat it is limited.ObjectivesThis programme consists of seven integrated work packages (WPs) and aims to develop and test disseminable and cost-effective treatments to optimise management for people with AN across all stages of illness.MethodsWP1a used surveys, focus groups and a pre–post trial to develop and evaluate a training programme for school staff on eating disorders (EDs). WP1b used a randomised controlled trial (RCT) [International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN) 42594993] to evaluate a prevention programme for EDs in schools. WP2a evaluated an inpatient treatment for AN using case reports, interviews and a quasi-experimental trial. WP2b used a RCT (ISRCTN67720902) to evaluate two outpatient psychological therapies for AN. WP3 used a RCT (ISRCTN06149665) to evaluate an intervention for carers of inpatients with AN. WP4 used actimetry, self-report and endocrine assessment to examine physical activity (PA) in AN. WP5 conducted a RCT (ISRCTN18274621) of an e-mail-guided relapse prevention programme for inpatients with AN. WP6 analysed cohort data to examine the effects of maternal EDs on fertility and their children’s diet and growth. WP7a examined clinical case notes to explore how access to specialist ED services affects care pathways and user experiences. Finally, WP7b used data from this programme and the British Cohort Study (1970) to identify the costs of services used by people with AN and to estimate annual costs of AN for England.ResultsWP1a: a brief training programme improved knowledge, attitudes and confidence of school staff in managing EDs in school. WP1b: a teacher-delivered intervention was feasible and improved risk factors for EDs in adolescent girls. WP2a: both psychological therapies improved outcomes in outpatients with AN similarly, but patients preferred one of the treatments. WP2b: the inpatient treatment (Cognitive Remediation and Emotional Skills Training) was acceptable with perceived benefits by patients, but showed no benefits compared with treatment as usual (TAU). WP3: compared with TAU, the carer intervention improved a range of patient and carer outcomes, including carer burden and patient ED symptomatology. WP4: drive to exercise is tied to ED pathology and a desire to improve mood in AN patients. PA was not increased in these patients. WP5: compared with TAU, the e-mail-guided relapse prevention programme resulted in higher body mass index and lower distress in patients at 12 months after discharge. WP6: women with an ED had impaired fertility and their children had altered dietary and growth patterns compared with the children of women without an ED. WP7a: direct access to specialist ED services was associated with higher referral rates, lower admission rates, greater consistency of care and user satisfaction. WP7b: the annual costs of AN in England are estimated at between £45M and £230M for 2011.ConclusionsThis programme has produced evidence to inform future intervention development and has developed interventions that can be disseminated to improve outcomes for individuals with AN. Directions for future research include RCTs with longer-term outcomes and sufficient power to examine mediators and moderators of change.Trial registrationCurrent Controlled Trials ISRCTN42594993, ISRCTN67720902, ISRCTN06149665 and ISRCTN18274621.FundingThis project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Programme Grants for Applied Research programme and will be published in full inProgramme Grants for Applied Research; Vol. 5, No. 16. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

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“…It is becoming widely recognized that the children of eating disordered mothers are at high risk of developing an eating disorder themselves (Stein et al, 1994;Scourfield, 1995;Stein, 1995;Hodes et al, 1997;Van der Broucke et al, 1997;Agras, et al, 1999;Waugh and Bulik, 1999). The risk factors not only point to a genetic vulnerability (Holland et al, 1988;Strober, 1991;Stunkard, 1995;Lilenfield et al, 1998;Collier et al, 1999;Graber et al, 1999;Strober and Bulik, 2002) but also to environmental factors.…”

Section: Riskmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using group therapy to support eating disordered mothers with their children: the relevance for primary care

Barnett

Buckroyd

Windle

2006

prim health care res dev

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Children of Mothers with Eating Disorders: A Preliminary Study

Cited by 31 publications

References 22 publications

Eating disorders from parent to child: Mothers’ perceptions of transgenerational effect

Eating disorders from parent to child: Mothers’ perceptions of transgenerational effect

Treatment of anorexia nervosa: a multimethod investigation translating experimental neuroscience into clinical practice

Using group therapy to support eating disordered mothers with their children: the relevance for primary care

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