Prevention of Eating Disorders: A Review

Nearly 10% of young women experience clinical eating disorders (Lewinsohn et al., 2000), and an even greater amount of women experience subclinical eating disorders and risk factors association with eating disorders, such as body dissatisfaction. Eating disorders are associated with a number of negative physical and psychological consequences, increased risk of mortality, and are often severe and debilitating (Thompson & Stice 2001). Of the individuals who experience eating disorder symptoms and their negative consequences, less than 25% will receive treatment (Hudson et al., 2007; Johnson et al., 2002). For those that do receive treatment, treatment effects are limited with only 30% experiencing long-lasting symptom remission (Agras et al., 2000; Fairburn, 2002; Fairburn et al., 2009; Wilson et al., 2003), and approximately 20% drop out (Fairburn 2002). Treatment for eating disorders is also relatively expensive, and most insurance companies will not fund inpatient treatment for individuals with severe eating disorders (Shaw et al., 2009). Therefore, more efforts have been devoted to the development of effective programs for the prevention of eating disorders.