ABSTRACT
In this chapter, a detailed summary of the course of Parent-Based Prevention in one family is presented. The parents report identifying with the thinness ideal; however, they would like to receive information and tools to avoid passing on similar weight and shape concerns to their children. The parents wanted to learn strategies for developing emotion-regulation capacities that do not involve food. The father has had Binge-Eating Disorder since college, and also reported depressive and suicidal ideation. The mother reported a very negative body image, but no active symptoms of an eating disorder otherwise. Both parents were very motivated to make changes in their lifestyle and parenting practices. They also believed that paternal binge eating and negative mood intolerance should also be targeted in treatment, although these patterns appeared to them very engrained. The therapist helped the parents focus first on changes relevant to their children’s eating habits, physical activity, body image, and emotion regulation, which the parents found as attainable goals for the program. As the intervention progressed, the parents worked on identifying triggers for their son’s negative, self-defeating, and pessimistic comments, and developed new skills to foster in him more positive schemas and stress-tolerance capacities that were age appropriate.
