Therapists' attitudes about treating patients with eating disorders

The attitudes of 90 therapists toward patients with an eating disorder were explored by questionnaire. Topics included therapist's treatment desires, countertransference, treatment approaches, and prognosis. Twenty-eight respondents (31%) desired not to treat such patients. Analysis of those who did not desire to treat these patients showed that (1) more of them were male, (2) individual therapy as the sole treatment method was more common, (3) feelings of empathy were less common, and (4) more of them believed the prognosis for anorexia nervosa with bulimia to be poor. Overall, therapists considered cognitive behavioral therapy to be the preferred treatment method, though subjects who desired to treat these individuals tended to use more diverse (dynamic, supportive, interpersonal, eclectic) approaches. Twenty-nine percent of both groups believed female therapists were preferred. Therapist frustration, treatment resistance, and comorbid conditions were found problematic. This study revealed several factors that distinguish therapists by desire to treat individuals with eating disorders.