Background: Bridging the research-practice gaps in the treatment of eating disorders requires the marriage of the art and science of therapeutic practice. In this workshop, two clinicians who’ve integrated evidence based treatments with practice based evidence for over 35 years will discuss some of the gaps most concerning to their daily practices. Essential qualities of the therapeutic alliance, defining recovery, utilizing relationally oriented approaches, and ED’s at midlife and beyond will be explored and elucidated. Participant involvement will be encouraged to deepen the experience and expand upon the information shared.
Objectives:
- Participants will learn some of the gaps between research and practice in the eating disorders field
- Participants will learn several essential ingredients to the therapeutic alliance best known to assist ED therapists in their work with this population
- Attendees will learn the advantages of a relational approach to treatment of eating disorders
The research-practice gap and why we need to address it
Bridging the research-practice gap- Treatment efficacy
- Evidence-Based Treatment for Anorexia
Evidence-Based Treatment for Bulimia
Dr. Maine, emphasizing how relationally oriented psychotherapy enhances the likelihood of recovery, will discuss how Relational Cultural Theory, attachment theory, neuroscience and clinical wisdom contribute to the understanding and treatment of eating disorders. Additionally, she will address the research/practice gaps associated with women with midlife eating disorders.Despite prevailing beliefs that these conditions only affect the young,age does not immunize women from eating disorders. Today the majority of midlife women express significant weight preoccupation and distress over their shape, appearance, and diet, threatening their health and well-being. We must approach eating disorders affecting women in midlife and beyond just as openly, seriously, and compassionately as we approach breast cancer and other public health problems.To bridge these research-practice gaps, clinicians must put the patient first, integrating state of the art science with informed clinical experience and tailor the treatment techniques to their patient’s unique needs and experiences.
A Founder and Adviser of the National Eating Disorders Association and Founding Fellow of the Academy for Eating Disorders, Maine is author of: Pursuing Perfection: Eating Disorders, Body Myths, and Women at Midlife and Beyond; Treatment of Eating Disorders: Bridging the Research- Practice Gap; Effective Clinical Practice in the Treatment of Eating Disorders; The Body Myth; Father Hunger; and Body Wars. The recipient of The Lori Irving Award for Excellence in Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention, and of the NEDA Lifetime Achievement Award, and 2016 Honoree of the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame, she practices in West Hartford, CT.
Beth Hartman McGilley, PhD, FAED, CEDS, Associate Professor, UKSM-W, is a psychologist in private practice, specializing in the treatment of eating disorders, body image, athletes, trauma, and grief. She has practiced for over 30 years, writing, lecturing, supervising, directing an inpatient eating disorders program and providing individual, family and group therapy. She co-edited Treatment of Eating Disorders: Bridging the Science-Practice Gap, and has published in academic journals and the popular media, as well as contributing chapters to several books. She is an emeritus editor for Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention, and is working on her second book, a tribute to the patients she’s served over the course of her career.
