A fMRI Pilot Study of the Effects of Meal-support in Eating Disorders.

This study involves people with eating disorders and healthy volunteers (people who have never experienced an eating disorder). Participants are interviewed about their psychological and physical health by the experimenter and they have a simulated scan session (about 1 hour). Approximately 1 week after they attend the first study session. They are asked to complete questionnaires and computerized tasks (about 30 minutes) followed by the active scan (1 hour). During the brain scan they look at pictures and answer questions about the pictures. After the first study session, people with eating disorders receive an intensive meal-support intervention (in the following 3 months) aimed at reducing anxiety and fears related to food (10 sessions lasting about 60 min.). Three months after the first brain scan, participants with eating disorders and healthy controls receive a second assessment and brain scan. We hypothesized that the meal support intervention will be effective in: 1) targeting eating disorder symptoms (body mass index - BMI, primarily) and 2) producing functional changes in brain regions that underline food-related anxiety and avoidance.