Living With Food: The Science Supporting Eating Disorder Treatment

One of the questions we are often asked is “how do you prevent an eating disorder?” or “is it even possible to prevent an eating disorder?” While there are no true answers to these questions, we know that many of the things that we think might help in fact have shown not to be effective. There is significant evidence questioning this issue. Parents are legitimately concerned about what their kids are being taught in school about eating disorders and obesity. Many still advocate for this psycho-education to be provided. Others, however, point out that some individuals with eating disorders will pinpoint this education as a mechanism that fueled their eating disorder behaviors and thoughts.

A recent study of eating disorder education in the schools showed that didactic prevention programs demonstrated little to no impact on the future development of an eating disorder. As with the science of eating disorder treatment, there is a need for evidence-based eating disorder education and prevention. One-time lectures about the evils of eating disorders are unlikely to produce the change we would like to see.

There have been recent discussions among eating disorder professionals on how to best educate high school students on eating disorders and their dangers. A recent study in Ireland exposed adolescents to a computerized eating disorder prevention program in which psycho-education was provided to students in the areas of food, mood, body image, self-esteem, media literacy, and personal stories. The program was provided in hopes that it would reduce disordered eating in males and females between the ages of 13 and 17. The researchers found that the program helped educate students on eating disorder behaviors and reduced disordered eating. Unfortunately, this study is not yet published. We look forward to reading more on this prevention program and encourage continued research on this necessary area of study.

Stice, E. & Shaw, H. (2004). Eating disorder prevention programs: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 130, 206-227. 

Contributions by Sarah Emerman