This is the first authored volume to offer a detailed, integrated analysis of the field of eating problems and disorders with theory, research, and practical experience from community and developmental psychology, public health, psychiatry, and dietetics. The book highlights connections between the prevention of eating problems and disorders and theory and research in the areas of prevention and health promotion; theoretical models of risk development and prevention (e.g., developmental psychopathology, social cognitive theory, feminist theory, ecological approaches); and related research on the prevention of smoking and alcohol use. It is the most comprehensive book available on the study of prevention programs, especially for children and adolescents. The authors review the spectrum of eating problems and disorders, the related risk and protective factors, the models that have guided prevention efforts to date, the literature on the studies of prevention, and suggestions for curriculum and program development and evaluation. The book concludes with a new prevention program based on the Feminist Ecological Developmental model. The 800 + references highlight work done around the world. The Prevention of Eating Problems and Eating Disorders addresses: * methodologies for assessing and establishing prevention; * the implications of neuroscience for prevention; * dramatic increases in the incidence of obesity; * the role of boys, men, and the media on body image; * prevention programming for minority groups; and * whether to focus on primary or secondary prevention. Intended for clinicians and academicians from disciplines such as health, clinical, developmental, and community psychology; social work; medicine; and public health; this book is also an ideal text for advanced courses on eating disorders.

In a detailed analysis of the field of eating problems and disorders, this book highlights the connections between the prevention of eating problems and disorders, and theory and research in the areas of prevention and health promotion. It also looks at models of risk development and prevention, specific issues and challenges, the status of current prevention research, and lessons for prevention program development. In this unique text Levine and Smolak draw on a range of interdisciplinary perspectives, including prevention science, developmental psychology, public health, and neuroscience, to provide a thorough review, history, and critique of the topic in light of a range of empirical studies. The only authored volume with a broad, detailed and integrated view of theories, research, and practice, this expanded, fully revised, and updated new edition features new chapters on dissonance-based approaches, public health, biopsychiatry and neuroscience, gender, culture(s), technology, obesity, protective factors, and ecological approaches. The Prevention of Eating Problems and Eating Disorders: Theories, Research, and Applications is essential reading for clinicians, academics, researchers, graduate students, upper-level undergraduates, and activists and advocates involved in work pertaining to eating disorders, disordered eating, prevention, health promotion, body image, obesity and biopsychosocial perspectives.

This comprehensive resource provides multiple prevention strategies, programs, and approaches for health and mental health workers, educators, researchers, students, and interested members of the community at large who work to prevent eating disorders and related problems.

Your daughter, mother, or someone in your care may have an eating disorder. Would you know? Whether you work in health care, counseling, education, athletics, or you are a concerned family member, you will find that Eating Disorders in Women and Children: Prevention, Stress Management, and Treatment develops a broader understanding of eatin

Countering the emphasis on treatment within the specific disease model, nine contributions focus mainly on the primary prevention of anorexia and bulimia by reducing risks through public education, and secondarily on improving identification and intervention. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Our understanding of eating disorders has improved markedly over the past 10 years since the publication of the previous edition of this volume. Early intervention is the key, as body dissatisfaction, obsession with thinness, and restrained and binge eating can be found in those as young as ten. Exploring prevention methods and therapeutic options,

Eating disorders are among the most prevalent psychiatric disorders in adolescent and young adult females, affecting approximately 10% of young women. Unfortunately, less than half of those with eating disorders receive treatment, which can be very expensive. Thus, effective prevention has become a major public health priority. The Body Project is an empirically based eating disorder prevention program that offers young women an opportunity to critically consider the costs of pursuing the ultra-thin ideal promoted in the mass media, which improves body acceptance and reduces risk for developing eating disorders. Young women with elevated body dissatisfaction are recruited for group sessions in which they participate in a series of verbal, written, and behavioral exercises in which they consider the negative effects of pursuing the thin-ideal. Chapters provide information on the significance of body image and eating disorders, the intervention theory, the evidence base which supports the theory, recruitment and training procedures, solutions to common challenges, and a new program aimed at reducing obesity onset, as well as intervention scripts and participant handouts. The Body Project is the only currently available eating disorder prevention program that has been shown to reduce risk for onset of eating disorders and received support in trials conducted by several independent research groups. The group sessions are brief and fun to lead, and this guide provides all of the necessary information to walk clinicians, teachers, counselors, and volunteers through leading the program for vulnerable young women.

For the first time in one volume, many of the world’s most esteemed eating disorders prevention experts share their opinions and recommendations about future directions for the field. Employing "The Last Word" format of writing concise editorials about a focused area of research, authors from four countries contribute thirteen chapters with diverse points of view. The approaches range from large scale, macro-environmental calls for change through public policy to the more intimate promotion of positive youth identity for buffering against eating disorders. Included are retrospective looks at the development of prevention programs with an eye toward best practices moving forward, calls for integrating eating disorders interventions with existing efforts in the obesity and health promotion fields, examples of successful change through public policy and social justice, and a cry for gender inclusiveness, which has missing in female dominated strategies. More personal-level recommendations look at the efficacy of mindfulness, yoga, intuitive eating and exercise, and the importance of forming healthy self-identity. Informed by decades of investigation, the authors—all of whom have conducted numerous studies, programs, and research projects—offer the insights they’ve learned and the lessons that they each believe will make a difference in reducing eating disorders. This book was originally published as a special issue of Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention.

This book presents a collection of writings by expert researchers from Canada, the United States, and Australia who are committed to finding common cause and common ground in the prevention of eating disorders and obesity. The ten chapters in this book seek to create a new public health approach to the prevention of weight-related disorders, one that counters the confusion and frustration from public policies, messages, and programs that recipients of prevention efforts often experience. The first section looks at prevention from a public health perspective, and the second section highlights theories from risk and resilience research that can inform the prevention of weight-related disorders. The contributions are varied in their theories and models, but woven throughout is the theme of collaboration in changing public institutions and social systems that promotes universal prevention and fosters mental health and resilience. Unique methods of linking systems and fostering partnerships across sectors and disciplines are highlighted, and readers are exposed to innovative ideas of how to move the field of prevention science forward to reduce the onset of negative body image, unhealthy weight management, eating disorders, and disordered eating. Preventing Eating-Related and Weight-Related Disorders is the second in a series of titles from The Community Health Systems Resource Group at The Hospital for Sick Children. This series will educate researchers, policy-makers, students, practitioners, and interested stakeholders on such topics as early intervention in psychosis, aggressive behaviour problems, eating-related disorders, and marginalized youth in educational contexts.

Although eating problems--ranging from body dissatisfaction and dieting to anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa--can begin and typically have their roots in childhood, theory and research in developmental psychopathology and developmental psychology have not received substantial attention in eating disorders research. This book provides crucial background material from both fields, and then makes direct applications to numerous aspects of the field of eating disorders including theory, research, treatment, and primary prevention. This book was born out of a transaction between frustration and optimism. The frustrations reflected the limitations of current knowledge about eating problems and disorders. Etiological "causes" which are sensitive and specific to eating disorders have been elusive. Although there is some understanding of risk factors, little is known about protective factors. This has made prevention, among other things, difficult. Furthermore, the mechanisms underlying the association between risk factors and disordered eating are poorly understood. For example, it is known that women are at greater risk than men are, but clinicians are hard- pressed to get beyond gender-based speculations and demonstrate why this is true. The optimism grows from familiarity with the field of developmental psychopathology. It seems evident that this approach has much to offer the field of eating disorders. This book is an early step in the integration of developmental psychopathology into theorizing, research, treatment, and prevention of eating disorders. It addresses four specific goals: * to introduce the principles and methodologies of developmental psychopathology, * to review the work of developmental psychologists in several major areas of behavior relevant to understanding the causes, treatment, and prevention of eating disorders, * to apply developmental psychopathology principles to the area of eating disorders, both in the form of theoretical models and in specific areas/issues raised by developmental psychopathology, and * to discuss the implications of developmental approaches for prevention programs and treatments.