Eating Disorders, Self Regulation and Mentalization

A randomized blinded feasibility study using the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) and the Reflective Functioning Questionnaire RFQ - as the main outcome to assess two interventions for eating disorders. Six experienced therapists, and their consecutively 8-9 admitted clients, were randomly allocated to the intervention group and control group. The sample included a total of 52 participants, all women, mean age 24.2 yrs. old. In the intervention group, participants received mentalization-based psychotherapy with ECOSA - a novel developed mentalization tool and in the control group, participants received interpersonal psychotherapy that focused on resolving interpersonal problems and symptomatic recovery. Four randomized samples for each participant were checked for therapy-focused fidelity by two different psychotherapists.