Multi-family therapy for bulimia nervosa: a qualitative pilot study of adolescent and family members' experiences.

BACKGROUND: Multi-family therapy (MFT-BN) is a new treatment for adolescent bulimia nervosa with emerging empirical support. It extends the bulimia nervosa focussed family therapy model, by offering treatment in a group setting. Up to nine families work together with a team of clinicians over the course of 20 weeks. No qualitative study to date has investigated the experience of MFT-BN. This study aimed to explore this from the adolescent and parent/caregiver perspective. METHODS: Participants from two consecutive MFT-BN groups facilitated at the Maudsley Hospital in London, UK, were invited to participate in either a focus group or individual qualitative interview about the experience of MFT-BN. Of the 19 eligible participants (from 9 families), 15 (8 parents, 1 older sibling, 6 adolescents) consented and participated. Audio-recordings of interviews and focus groups were transcribed verbatim and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. RESULTS: Three main themes were identified; (1) seeing and being seen, (2) holistic shift, (3) the unspoken. Participants reported overall shifts in cognitions, emotions, behaviours, and relationships both individually and within the family as a result of attending MFT-BN. Meeting other families with similar struggles and sharing experiences, skills and learning helped reduce isolation and promote change. There was also a sense from participants that some things did not, or could not, be spoken about in the group context and that more direct and challenging conversations might have been helpful at times. DISCUSSION: The current study identifies some of the perceived benefits and challenges of MFT-BN. The three themes demonstrate the holistic nature of change that can occur across the treatment, as well as the power and limits of the group therapy setting and process. Further research is needed to explore the experience of MFT-BN and its outcomes across a more diverse range of participants and treatment settings.

Multi-family therapy (MFT-BN) is a new treatment for adolescent bulimia nervosa. It involves a group of families (maximum nine) working together with a team of therapists over the course of 20 weeks. This study aimed to explore the experience of MFT-BN from the adolescents and parent/caregiver perspective, as this has not been explored before. Participants from two consecutive MFT-BN groups were invited to participate in either a focus group or individual interview. 8 parents, 1 older sibling, and 6 adolescents participated. Three themes were identified from what they said. Participants described overall shifts in their thoughts, emotions, behaviours, and relationships both individually and within their families, as a result of attending MFT-BN. Meeting other families with similar struggles and sharing experiences, skills and learning helped reduce isolation and promote change. There was also a sense from participants that some things did not, or could not, be spoken about in the group context and that more direct and challenging conversations might have been helpful at times. More research is needed to explore the experience of MFT-BN and its outcomes across a more diverse range of participants and treatment settings.

Multi-family therapy for bulimia nervosa in adolescence: a pilot study in a community eating disorder service.

Multi-family therapy for Bulimia Nervosa (MFT-BN) was developed in response to the modest outcomes following both Family Therapy and Cognitive Behavior Therapy for adolescents with BN. BN impacts individuals and their family members with high levels of carer stress. MFT-BN targets barriers to treatment including low motivation to change, hostility and criticism, negative affect alongside emotion dysregulation and common comorbidities. MFT-BN enhances treatment, providing a community of support and acquisition of emotional regulation and interpersonal skills. The study describes the clinical characteristics of the group of participants to whom MFT-BN is offered and presents the outcomes of families who have participated in it. Prior to MFT-BN, adolescents who received it were more likely to have self-harmed and had elevated levels of eating disordered cognitions than those who did not receive MFT-BN. Following MFT-BN, parents report decreases in the negative experiences of caregiving and in their own symptoms of anxiety. Adolescents report reductions in anxiety and depression alongside improvement in emotion regulation. Improvements in symptoms of eating disorders include reductions in eating disorder cognitions and modest reductions in binge and purge symptoms after 14 weeks of treatment. Adolescents who participated in MFT-BN were less likely to drop out of outpatient treatment.

An experimental exploration of social problem solving and its associated processes in anorexia nervosa.

People with Anorexia Nervosa (AN) have well-documented socio-emotional and neurocognitive impairments. As yet, little is known about their ability to solve problems in social situations, although a link with cognitive avoidance has been suggested. This study explored social problem-solving (SPS), using an experimental task. Secondly, the role of cognitive avoidance in SPS was investigated. Individuals with AN (n=31) and healthy controls (HC; n=39) completed the Social Problem Resolution Task which consists of problem scenarios involving awkward everyday social situations. Participants were asked to generate both the optimal solution and their personal solution. Solutions were rated in terms of how socially sensitive and practically effective they were. AN patients produced relatively poorer personal solutions compared to optimal solutions than HC participants and had higher scores on a measure of cognitive avoidance than the HC group. In AN patients, cognitive avoidance was partially associated with poor SPS. These findings suggest that whilst people with AN have no difficulty in generating socially sensitive and effective solutions to problems, but may have difficulty applying this knowledge to themselves.

Evaluation of a cognitive remediation therapy group for adolescents with anorexia nervosa: pilot study.

OBJECTIVE: Cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) has been used with adults with anorexia nervosa (AN) in individual and group formats; however, evaluation of CRT with adolescents in this population is very limited. METHOD: Seven CRT groups were carried out with a total of 30 adolescents with AN. Adolescents' cognitive flexibility and motivation was assessed before and after the group, and they completed qualitative questionnaires after the group to determine their perceptions. RESULTS: There was a small effect size in self-reported cognitive flexibility post group. Adolescents found the group interesting and useful; however, some wanted more support with application to real life. DISCUSSION: Cognitive remediation therapy has the potential to be used with adolescents with AN. More research is needed to determine if CRT is beneficial for young people with AN.

Young people's perceptions of and reasons for accessing a web-based cognitive behavioural intervention for bulimia nervosa.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to explore young people's experience of accessing and utilising a web-based cognitive behavioural intervention for bulimic disorders. METHOD: Young people (N = 11) with bulimia nervosa or atypical bulimia nervosa completed a qualitative interview. Interviews were analysed and themes were identified. RESULTS: Young people liked the programme for its accessibility, flexibility, support and information. Some participants used the intervention as a stepping stone to further treatment. CONCLUSION: Web-based interventions have the potential to provide accessible, effective treatment to young people with bulimia nervosa (BN). More research is needed to determine which components are effective and for whom.

Attentional blink modulation during sustained and after discrete lead stimuli presented in three sensory modalities.

Previous studies found larger attentional modulation of acoustic blinks during task-relevant than during task-irrelevant acoustic or visual, but not tactile, lead stimuli. Moreover, blink modulation was larger overall during acoustic lead stimuli. The present experiment investigated whether these results reflect modality specificity of attentional blink modulation or effects of continuous stimulation. Participants performed a discrimination and counting task with acoustic, visual, or tactile lead stimuli. Stimuli were presented sustained or consisted of two short discrete stimuli. The sustained condition replicated previous results. In the discrete condition, blinks were larger during task-relevant than during task-irrelevant stimuli in all groups regardless of lead stimulus modality. Thus, previous results that seemed consistent with modality-specific accounts of attentional blink modulation reflect effects of continuous stimulus input.