Workshops 2022

Thursday at 10:15

WS-1a: Is it time for a paradigm shift? Moving from evidence-based treatment to evidence-based treatment relationships.

Chaired by: Pia Charpentier, Licensed psychotherapist, CEO Center for Eating Disorders, Helsinki, Finland
Presenter: David Clinton is Associate Professor of Medical Psychology at Karolinska Institutet where he has long experience of eating disorder research and clinical training. He is also a practicing clinical psychologist, psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, and clinical supervisor.

Objective: The purpose of this workshop is to explore the scientific and clinical significance of evidence-based treatment relationships in eating disorders. Participants will learn about the evidence for the effectiveness of therapist and relational factors in psychological treatment and the influence of common and treatment-specific factors on outcome.
Description: Considerable research and debate within psychotherapy generally and the field of eating disorders in particular has focused on the question of efficacious treatment methods. Randomized controlled trials have resulted in clinical guidelines that have decisive impact on what techniques and methods of treatment are recommended in various clinical settings and how individual clinicians view the ways in which treatment works. Although the literature on evidence-based treatment provides important scientific and clinical insights into how we can better help eating disorder patients and their families, evidence suggests that therapist and relational factors have considerably greater impact on outcome than treatment-specific and technical factors. It will be argued that the eating disorders field needs a paradigm shift from evidence-based treatment to evidence-based treatment relationships. This will help to make research more clinically relevant and improve the effectiveness of individual therapists. The need for such a paradigm shift will be discussed and the workshop will explore how we can establish and evaluate evidence-based treatment relationships in work with eating disorders.

WS1-b: MFT and FBT – friends or foes? Multi-Family Therapy versus Family Based Treatment in anorexia nervosa,

Chaired by: Kristin Stedal, PhD, Regional Department for Eating Disorders, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Norway.
Presenter: Ulf Wallin, together with representatives from the NIG Group. Ulf Wallin has worked at the Child and Adolescent Eating Disorders Centre in Lund since 1987 as a child psychiatrist and family therapist. He has been responsible for a Nordic training course in multi-family therapy. His dissertation in 2000 was about “Anorexia nervosa in adolescence. Course, treatment and family function.”

Objective:The Multi-Family NIG group will do a presentation of different experiences on working with FBT and MFT from different units within the Nordic countries.
Description: Multi-Family Therapy (MFT) and Family Based Treatment (FBT) are established treatments for anorexia nervosa in the young person i the Nordic countries. The pandemic has made it difficult to gather MFT groups, but we now hope to be back on track. Manualized FBT is the golden standard and MFT is an additional treatment. Some say that there is no place for MFT that it is too time consuming. Research shows that the recovery from the disease is accelerated by MFT. Within the Nordic MFT network this is a question we have discussed a lot: Can you combine MFT and FBT? Can you incorporate FBT into the MFT model or should they be separate entities that have a lot in common. FBT is a treatment of the individual family, MFT is a group treatment that brings together 6-7 families around everyday life situations, such as mealtime. FBT works with the single family, in a traditional family therapy setting. The most important issues we will address are:

• Can you use MFT and FBT simultaneously?
• Are there differences in the therapeutic stance?
• Can you integrate MFT and FBT?
• Or do you have to choose between them?

WS1-c: Prevention and recovery with self-compassion – What do I need in meeting with myself?

Chaired by: Karianne Vrabel, Specialist in psychology, Associate Professor at the University of Oslo, Head of the Research Institute of Modum Bad, Vikersund, Norway
Presenter: Irene Kingswick;Secretary General at ROS (Rådgivning om spiseforstyrrelser) since 2013 (counseling about eating disorder). She is an art therapist with a master in mental health; instructor in several mindful based therapies (stress reduction, eating, living ++)

Objective To give an introduction to the 6 and 8 week course MSC – Mindful Self Compassion developed by the American scientist Kritin Neff, one of the world’s leading experts on self-compassion and Chris Germer PhD, leader in integration of mindfulness and psychotherapy. During the pandemic, our organization (ROS; User-representative organization for EDs) received funding from Dam Foundation to conduct digital groups in the MSC to prevent people from developing eating disorder and to support others in their recovery process. We want to share how MSC can be used in both prevention and recovery from eating disorder. ROS has arranged 8 courses in MSC through the pandemic. About 100 participants have completed the course. The results of the evaluation is very good.
Description: This workshop will provide a brief introduction to the theory behind MSC and an overview of research related to eating disorders. ROS will show the evaluation of its own project and share a number of feedback from course participants. The 8-week course in MSC consists of a total of 27 exercises. Here you will be guided through some of these and reflect with your colleagues around your experiences.
We will talk and experience through practical examples how to:

• Calm down your nervous system with soothing touches
• Experience how we through increased presence and kindness towards ourselves can meet life’s challenges in a far better way
• Develop a more compassionate attitude towards your struggles with eating
• Befriend yourself with your breath and loving kindness exercises

Friday at 10:15

WS3-a: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger – improving training and support for professionals.

Chaired by: Rasmus Isomaa, Associate professor, Faculty of Education and Welfare studies, Åbo Akademi University, Finland
Presenters: Johanna Levallius, PhD and lic psychologist, has many years of experience in working with adult patients with eating disorder (ED) in Stockholm, Sweden. Her research mainly revolves around the psychology of ED. She educates and supervises ED clinicians and members of Frisk & Fri. Kjersti Gulliksen, PhD and clinical psychologist, has 20 years of experience in working with children, adolescent and adult patients with eating disorder (ED). Her research revolves around motivation for change, preferred therapist characteristics and the role of emotions in EDs. She educates and supervises clinicians in body-oriented treatment for eating disorders. She works as Special advisor for The Norwegian Association of Psychology, besides being involved in both clinical work and research at Villa Sult, Institute of Eating Disorders, Oslo, Norway.

Objective: To attract mental health professionals (MHP) to the field of eating disorders (ED), retain them and prevent burnout, adequate training and support is vital. The aim of the workshop is to form an empirically derived basis for ED specialized training of MHP.
Description: Treatment providers are important stakeholders, and gatekeepers, in the successful delivery of mental healthcare. Prevailing attitudes among MHP can facilitate timely recognition, enable access to care and uptake of evidence-based practices, or undermine help-seeking and therapeutic engagement. The workshop is part of an ongoing project on attitudes towards EDs among MHP (see also paper presentation: Expert advice to future clinicians). Based on a set of open-ended questions in a survey aimed at ED professionals in the Nordic countries, we aim to focus on perceived challenges and rewards in working with EDs. In addition, we will discuss what kind of advice the respondents perceived valuable for new professionals in the field. In the workshop, participants are offered the opportunity to reflect upon and discuss the results of the survey and together with the speakers formulate an outline for clinical training and support.

WS3-b: Binge eating disorder, weight, stigma and health

Chaired by: Jorunn Sundgot-Borgen, Professor, Institute of Sports Medicine, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Oslo, Norway.
Presenter: Lene Meyer is a trained psychologist and has a Ph.D. in BED and BED treatment from the University of Southern Denmark. Lene is also a co-founder of a multi-disciplinary association for equity in weight research and practice in Denmark called ‘Ligevægt’. The aim of ‘Ligevægt’ is to rethink the current understandings of weight and weight related practices in society and the health care system.

Description: Binge eating disorder (BED) is closely related to high body weight, and this combination poses new challenges and dilemmas for eating disorder (ED) professionals. In this workshop we ask how we can be supportive of people affected by BED as they attempt to become more accepting of themselves and their bodies in a society and a health care system that want them to lose weight? How can we better acknowledge and address issues of weight stigma in our current understandings and treatments of BED? And how can we simultaneously work towards better physical, psychological and social health for people with BED without focusing on weight?
The workshop combines research on BED, stigma and weight inclusive health and uses examples from a qualitative study of people affected by BED in group psychotherapy treatment in Denmark. Weight stigma plays a key part in all stages of BED from development to recovery: Stigma is a risk factor for EDs and is associated with binge eating and poor body image. Addressing weight stigma thus has the potential to help prevent BED and support recovery. Participants are invited to engage in critical reflections and discussions about BED, weight, stigma and health as well as their own weight biases. The format is a combination of presentation, group discussion and exercises.

WS2/3-c: Friluftsliv and nature experiences in eating disorder recovery (continued from 09.00am)

Chaired by: Solfrid Bratland-Sanda, Professor, University of South-Eastern Norway, Department of Sport, Physical Education and Outdoor Studies, Bø, Norway
Presenters: Solfrid Bratland-Sanda, PhD, is a clinical exercise physiologist and professor in physical activity and health at the University of South-Eastern Norway. She is the leader of the Interest Group for Eating Disorders, Sport and Exercise which is a part of Nordic Eating Disorders Society. She has 17 years of experience with research on physical activity, exercise and eating disorders, and more than 55 scientific publications in the field of physical activity and health. Lise Trangsrud, PhD, is an associate professor in friluftsliv, society and disability at the University of South-Eastern Norway. She is also educated as a friluftsliv guide. Her doctoral thesis focused on friluftsliv and nature as part of recovery processes in everyday life for persons with eating disorders. The project included a participatory research approach, and the development of a method for data generation called “going together”. Ane Ringstad Næss is a school nurse educated within sport sciences. She has first-hand experiences with eating disorders and the use of nature and friluftsliv as part of her recovery, and she was in the competence group of Dr. Trangsrud’s doctoral work. She has previously represented the Norwegian NGO on eating disorders Rådgivning om spiseforstyrrelser (ROS).

Objective: The purpose of the workshop is to increase awareness and competence about how friluftsliv and nature experiences can support recovery for persons with eating disorders. The participants are expected to gain knowledge of 1) potential understandings of friluftsliv, 2) how nature and friluftsliv can be of support to persons with eating disorders in their recovery and 3) how nature experiences and friluftsliv can be covered in therapy related to eating disorders.
Description: We will present new, research-based knowledge about how persons with eating disorders experience friluftsliv and nature as part of their recovery processes. From the current understanding of eating disorder recovery processes as both something that takes place during treatment as well as in everyday aspect of one’s life, participation in friluftsliv may serve as a useful component when identifying both nature’s therapeutic benefits as well as the benefits of therapy in nature. The theoretical foundation of the workshop relates to perspectives regarding the human-nature relation, specifically paying attention to how embodied experiences with friluftsliv and nature can be related to person’s experiences with eating disorders. Grounded in a current research project that was based on participatory methods, the workshop will include perspectives from both scientific knowledge and first-hand experiences with friluftsliv in eating disorder recovery. The workshop will combine lecture from the speakers with dialogue and exchange of experiences with the participants. This workshop takes place outdoors around Sognsvann with start and end at the conference venue. Please wear clothes and shoes according to weather.