The (Future) Role of Self-Help Interventions in the Treatment of Eating Disorders: Commentary on Linardon et al....

Eating disorders are associated with a high burden, functional impairment, and many comorbidities. Thus, evaluating the effectiveness of self-help interventions solely based on eating disorder symptom reduction limits their practical impact. The recent meta-analysis by Linardon and colleagues investigated the effectiveness of self-help interventions on general mental health outcomes. Although the results were promising, they also underscore several challenges encountered in research on self-help interventions for eating disorders. These include small effect sizes, limited data on clinically diagnosed samples, and insufficient evidence regarding mechanisms of change. In the future, adopting a transdiagnostic, process-oriented perspective and taking advantage of the flexibility of self-help interventions may lead to more effective treatments. Ultimately, this could help generalize treatment effects across various mental health symptoms and enhance overall quality of life in patients with eating disorders.