Mindfulness & Acceptance for Treating Eating Disorders & Weight Concerns ─ Evidence-Based Inerventions

Disordered eating, negative body image, and problems with weight have become an epidemic—and research shows that traditional treatments are not always effective. This professional resource offers proven-effective interventions using mindfulness and acceptance for treating clients with disordered eating, body image, or weight issues—and for whom other treatments have failed.

Millions of people in the United States suffer from eating disorders, and dissatisfaction with weight and body type—even in individuals whose weight is considered normal—is similarly widespread. In addition, more than half of Americans could benefit from healthy weight loss. Unfortunately, not all people with eating disorders or weight concerns respond to traditional therapeutic interventions; many continue to suffer significant symptoms even after treatment. What these clients need is an integrated therapeutic approach that will prove effective in the long run—like the scientifically backed methods in this much-needed clinical guide.

Edited by Ann F. Hayos, Jason Lillis, Evan M. Forman, and Meghan L. Butryn; and with contributors including Kay Segal, Debra Safer, and Hugo Alberts;Mindfulness and Acceptance for Treating Eating Disorders and Weight Concerns is the first professional resource to incorporate a variety of proven-effective acceptance- and mindfulness-based approaches—such as acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT)—into the treatment of persistent disordered eating, body image issues, and weight problems.

With these evidence-based interventions, you’ll be ready to help your clients move beyond their problems with disordered eating, body dissatisfaction, and weight management once and for all.

Ann F. Haynos, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and T32 postdoctoral research fellow funded by the National Institute of Mental Health through the department of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota Medical Center. Haynos’s research interests pertain to identifying the underlying mechanisms associated with the development and maintenance of disordered eating, and developing and evaluating treatments for eating disorders and weight concerns. In a clinical capacity, Haynos has worked primarily with individuals with eating disorders under dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) models.

Jason Lillis, PhD, is assistant professor of research at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and a clinical psychologist at the Miriam Hospital in Providence, RI. He is coauthor ofAcceptance and Commitment Therapy and a leading ACT-for-weight-loss research scientist.

Evan M. Forman, PhD, is professor and director of graduate studies for the department of psychology at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA, as well codirector of the Laboratory for Innovations in Health Related Behavior Change. His research, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Obesity Society, focuses on using technology and new behavioral frameworks to enhance interventions for health behavior change, especially obesity.

Meghan L. Butryn, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and associate research professor in the department of psychology at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. Butryn’s work focuses on the development and evaluation of behavioral treatments for obesity. Her research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, and she has published over sixty peer-reviewed papers.