Body dissatisfaction is a significant mental health symptom present in adolescent girls and boys. However, it is often either disregarded in adolescent boys or examined using assessments that may not resonate with males. The present study addresses these issues, examining the manifestation, etiology, and correlates of 3 facets of body…

Interest in the link between Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Anorexia Nervosa (AN) has led to estimates of the prevalence of autistic traits in AN. This systematic review and meta-analysis assessed the use of the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) or abbreviated version (AQ-10) to examine whether patients with AN have elevated levels of autistic…

Background: Dysphagia is often a comorbidity in patients who require a tracheostomy, yet little is known about patterns of oral intake commencement in tracheostomized patients, or how patterns may vary depending on the clinical population and/or reason for tracheostomy insertion. Aims: To document patterns of clinical management around the…

This paper describes the transdiagnostic theory and application of family-based treatment (FBT) for children and adolescents with eating disorders. We review the fundamentals of FBT, a transdiagnostic theoretical model of FBT and the literature supporting its clinical application, adaptations across developmental stages and the diagnostic spectrum…

Pica is a very serious and often life threatening problem which occurs largely in persons with developmental disabilities. The topic has received sporadic attention from researchers for several decades. This paper reviews definitions, diagnostic implications, causes, prevalence, and assessment methods that have been described in the research…

Food refusal is a severe feeding problem in which children refuse to eat all or most foods presented and exhibit problems with growth. This review discusses the definition, etiology, and interventions pertaining to food refusal. The interventions utilized for food refusal typically consist of several treatment components. These treatment…

Two thirds of the adults in the United States are overweight or obese. Binge eating is a barrier to treatment adherence and sustained weight loss, and can be seen as a form of experiential avoidance. The current study analyzed the impact of binge eating on weight reduction in a previously published study of a 1-day acceptance and commitment…

The perfectionism model of binge eating (PMOBE) is an integrative model explaining why perfectionism is related to binge eating. This study reformulates and tests the PMOBE, with a focus on addressing limitations observed in the perfectionism and binge-eating literature. In the reformulated PMOBE, concern over mistakes is seen as a destructive…

The prospective relationship between initial rumination and subsequent bulimic symptoms, and vice versa, was examined, and possible mediators were tested in a community sample of 191 adolescent girls (M age = 14.5) at 3 different assessment time points. Path analyses indicated that Time 1 rumination predicted Time 3 bulimic symptoms, and vice…

School counselors play an important role in identifying and intervening with students struggling with disordered eating (e.g., Bardick et al., 2004). Research has shown that American Indian adolescents report higher rates of certain disordered eating behaviors than other racial groups. The literature on the prevalence and etiology of disordered…

Statistically controlling for physical size is common practice, especially in self-perception studies uncovering the etiology of maladaptive behaviors, such as eating disorders. For example, social physique anxiety (SPA)--apprehension about social evaluations while presenting oneself in front of others (Leary, 1992)--is a prominent correlate of…

The mental health of our children is a natural and important concern for us all. The fact is, many mental disorders have their beginnings in childhood or adolescence, yet may go undiagnosed and untreated for years. "Umbrella" terms such as emotional disturbance, behavioral disorders, or mental illness are used to refer to mental…

Although known for its distinctive food-related behaviors, Prader-Willi syndrome is a multisystem disorder with genetic, developmental, and behavioral features. Two separate and distinct eating disorders are noted: initial feeding difficulties and failure to thrive, and later overeating. Additional outcomes observed with this disorder include…

This retrospective study explored the experience of recovery from anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa without professional treatment. A nine-question open-ended electronic survey was posted for a period of four months at a mid-western university. Sixteen female and two male respondents reported recovery from adolescent-onset full syndrome…

The authors review research on risk factors for eating disorders, restricting their focus to studies in which clear precedence of the hypothesized risk factor over onset of the disorder is established. They illustrate how studies of sociocultural risk factors and biological factors have progressed on parallel tracks and propose that major advances…