Eat. treat. repeat: tailored cognitive behavioral therapy for avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) in children and adolescents

Eat. Treat. Repeat, is a doctoral thesis that describes the results of research into tailored Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) in children and adolescents. This concerns a heterogeneous patient group, with different etiological profiles, in a broad age range, that – often – suffers from comorbid problems. This may require that CBT interventions are adapted to these respective factors, which should be investigated regarding effectiveness and feasibility. The designed methods and protocols investigated in children and adolescents in this thesis show that CBT is an effective approach to reduce disordered eating behavior and to tackle ARFID. A CBT approach called SLIK was researched in children with and without a syndromic burden, and the use of Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) was researched in a monotherapy condition as well as combined with SLIK. A new designed CBT procedure , based on inhibitory exposure was researched in Adolescents.