Brief Group Psychotherapy for Eating Disorders by Kate Tchanturia (review)

Abstract

issn 0362-4021 © 2016 Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society group, Vol. 40, No. 2, Summer 2016 177 1 Correspondence should be addressed to Michael McCutcheon, 458 w. 146th Street, Suite 1n, New York, ny 10031. E-mail: michael.mccutcheon@nyu.edu. Book Review Brief Group Psychotherapy for Eating Disorders. Edited by Kate Tchanturia. New York: Routledge, 2015, 225 pp. Reviewed by Michael McCutcheon1 Brief Group Psychotherapy for Eating Disorders is a meticulously detailed book written for group facilitators at all experience levels. The book, which is edited by Dr. Kate Tchanturia, is based on findings from years of inpatient eating disorder (ED) treatment research. It is highly informative and very enjoyable to read. Dr. Tchanturia , an international leader in the field of ED research and promoter of clinical excellence over the past 20 years, is not only the book’s editor; she also authored or coauthored 7 of its 10 chapters. Dr. Tchanturia walks the reader through a brief review of empirical data. Group therapy is more effective than individual treatment with regard to helping anorexic patients gain more weight and have shorter hospital admission times. For the practicing group therapist, this finding might sound counterintuitive. Anorexic patients typically find the interpersonal and relational challenges in the group setting hard to tolerate. To catch the reader up on the current state of ED research, she provides a systematic literature review of extant group treatments. In her review, only 38 publications on anorexia and bulimia treatments met eligibility criteria for inclusion (i.e., studies that focused solely on binge eating disorder, and findings from identical data sets were excluded). The author rightly argues for more systematic research of ED treatments. The existing publications are rife with limitations because they report on a wide range of ED group treatments, often have small sample sizes, and utilize vastly different outcome measures. All of this undermines the universality of findings. There is a great concern about patients with ED, as these conditions carry a higher mortality rate than most psychiatric disorders. Insurance companies and government-funded health programs, saddled with large expenses for lengthy GROUP 40.2 interior.indb 177 8/7/16 3:45 PM 178 mccutcheon inpatient stays, are demanding cost-effective alternatives, such as brief group treatment approaches. In this introductory chapter, Dr. Tchanturia makes a strong case for further research in the field. In the (two-page) second chapter, the author sets the scene for the eight forthcoming sections, which are devoted to various types of ED groups. She offers the reader a brief look into the adult clinical treatment program at the Maudsley Hospital, where these eight ED groups have been tested, and where she holds the position of lead clinical psychologist. Maudsley Hospital, in South London, is one of the largest mental health training facilities in the United Kingdom and is widely known for its family-based treatment for anorexia nervosa. Though the chapter was brief, I found it quite useful to learn what a typical daily routine is like for patients at Maudsley, the goals of the program (and how those goals vary depending on patients’ severity at admission), the four-stage approach employed, and how the numerous psychology groups fit in to the program’s overarching approach to recovery and wellness. The remaining eight chapters all feature a step-by-step, session-by-session description of different types of brief ED groups: cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) in group format for adults; CRT for adolescents; cognitive remediation and emotion skills training (CREST); perfectionism; single session (aka “one-off” or “pop-up”) group themes; compassion-oriented group; body image disturbance (BodyWise) group; and a recovery/discovery group (focused on recovery maintenance). The chief intent of this book is to provide an overview of protocols for ED groups using a brief model; Tchanturia succeeds admirably in this effort. To call the eight chapters that describe each type of group “clear” or “helpful” would be insulting to the painstaking work that went into the stellar organization of what could have easily become a slew of difficult-to-grasp, vague, or even esoteric information. The group descriptions are light on jargon, and when jargon is employed, it is done so with the...