ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to acquaint clinicians and researchers in the eating disorders (EDs) field with three additional, emotion-based psychotherapies: Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), and Emotion-Focused Family Therapy (EFFT). It describes key concepts in AEDP, EFT, and EFFT as applied to ED treatment; offers a clinical case vignette, followed by annotated transcripts designed to illustrate selected interventions from the respective modalities; and compares and contrasts the therapies. In considering AEDP, EFT and EFFT as applied to the treatment of EDs, all three psychotherapies privilege emotional transformation through bodily-based emotional experiencing. New emotion-focused treatment models have been generated, including Radically Open Dialectical Behaviour Therapy for anorexia nervosa and Integrative Cognitive-Affective Therapy for bulimia nervosa. As per best practices in ED treatment, emotion-based psychotherapies are offered in the context of multidisciplinary care. Emotion-based psychotherapies offer myriad interventions for helping individuals with EDs.
