Academy of eating disorders international conference

New information is being acquired and disseminated about eating disorders, particularly in terms of integrating the roles of genes and environment, and new treatment approaches. Although evidence indicates that genes are not more important in the aetiology of anorexia nervosa (AN) than bulimia nervosa, Western culture does appear to be more important in the aetiology of bulimia nervosa than AN. Pathological fear conditioning offers a very useful and experimentally testable theory of the aetiology of AN. New evidence suggests that an enhanced, 'transdiagnostic' form of cognitive behavioural therapy is highly effective in eating disorder patients suitable for out-patient treatment. Patients who are homozygotic for the short (s) allele of the 5-hydroxytryptamine transporter gene promoter region appear to be more resistant to multimodal treatment.