Spotlight on Eating Disorders

In 2019, it was estimated that almost 3 million children and young people worldwide experienced eating disorders (WHO, 2022). Defined by the negative beliefs and behaviours they cause people to have about themselves and their eating, body shape, and weight, eating disorders can have several implications on a person’s physical and mental health, as well as on their development (NICE 2020, Schmidt et al, 2016).

During the COVID-19 pandemic, preliminary reports from around the world suggest that the prevalence of eating disorders has increased considerably (Auger et al., 2023). In England alone, the prevalence of any eating disorder in 11- to 16-year-olds increased from 0.5% in 2017 to 2.6% in 2023, and the prevalence of any eating disorder in 17- to 19-year-olds rose from 0.8% in 2017 to 12.5% in 2023 (Mental Health of Children and Young People in England, 2023).

Eating Disorders Awareness Week (26 February – 3 March 2024) is an opportunity to bring a spotlight on eating disorders and to improve awareness of the impact that eating disorder can have on children and young people.

This Eating Disorder Awareness Week, we encourage you to explore the FREE learning opportunities available on our website, and to share with your networks.

Resources

Podcasts

• NEW PODCAST ‘RESHAPE Study: Key Takeaways on Eating Disorders’ with Professor Tamsin Ford and Clara Faria
• NEW PODCAST ‘Performing Well but not Appreciating it – A Trait Feature of Anorexia Nervosa’ with Professor Kerstin von Plessen
• NEW PODCAST ‘Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID): Prevalence and Implications’ with Dr. Emma Willmott and Dr. Tom Jewell
• NEW PODCAST ‘Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID): Psychological Interventions and Outcomes’ with Dr. Emma Willmott and Dr. Tom Jewell

Articles

• Blog from Dr. Emma Willmott and Dr. Tom Jewell on ‘An Overview of Psychological Interventions for Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)’

Topic Guides

• Eating disorders

Open Access papers from ACAMH journals

• ACAMH Featured Paper from the JCPP ‘Reciprocal associations between parental feeding practices and child eating behaviours from toddlerhood to early childhood: bivariate latent change analysis in the Gemini cohort’, (2023), Alice R. Kininmonth, Moritz Herle, Emma Haycraft, Clare Farrow, Kristiane Tommerup, Helen Croker, Abigail Pickard, Katie Edwards, Jacqueline Blissett, and Clare Llewellyn
• JCPP Original Article ‘Shifting age of child eating disorder hospitalizations during the Covid-19 pandemic’, (2023), Nathalie Auger, Howard Steiger, Thuy Mai Luu, Nicholas Chadi, Nancy Low, Marianne Bilodeau-Bertrand, Jessica Healy-Profitós, Aimina Ayoub, Émilie Brousseau, and Mimi Israël
• ACAMH Featured Paper from JCPP Advances ‘Performing well but not appreciating it – A trait feature of anorexia nervosa’, (2023), Tine Schuppli Hjerresen, Mette Bentz, Ayna Baladi Nejad, Estelle Raffin, Kasper Winther Andersen, Oliver James Hulme, Hartwig Roman Siebner, and Kerstin Jessica Plessen
• ACAMH Featured Paper from JCPP Advances ‘Current evidence for avoidant restrictive food intake disorder: Implications for clinical practice and future directions’, (2023), Tanith Archibald, and Rachel Bryant-Waugh

Check out 2023’s fantastic library of resources on Eating Disorders – Perception, Prevention, Intervention