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The Explanation of Eating Disorders: A Critical Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2020

Hannah Hawkins-Elder Open the ORCID record for Hannah Hawkins-Elder [Opens in a new window]  and
Tony Ward Open the ORCID record for Tony Ward [Opens in a new window]
Hannah Hawkins-Elder*
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
Tony Ward
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
*
*Corresponding author: Hannah Hawkins-Elder, School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington6012, New Zealand. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Eating disorders (EDs) are one of the most severe and complex mental health problems facing researchers and clinicians today. The effective prevention and treatment of these conditions is therefore of paramount importance. However, at present our treatments fall short: generally demonstrating only poor to moderate efficacy, and often completely ineffective for severe or chronic cases. A possible reason for this is that the current theories underlying these treatments are flawed. In this paper, we review and evaluate several prominent theoretical explanations associated with current frontline and promising treatments for ED. In doing so, we identify fundamental problems within the construction of current ED explanations and their implications for treatment. In response to these findings, we propose several strategies for the construction of future ED explanations which we believe have the power to ameliorate these problems and potentially help to develop more efficacious treatment downstream.

Keywords

psychopathologyeating disorderstheoryexplanationtreatment
Type
Standard Paper
Information
Behaviour Change , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , June 2020 , pp. 93 - 110
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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