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The Use of Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Non-suicidal Self-Injury and Eating Disorders

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Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Eating Disorders

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Abstract

Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) is an effective treatment for depressive disorder. Over the last two decades, IPT has been modified to treat different mental health problems, including eating disorders. When working with patients presenting with eating disorder psychopathology, the eating disorder behaviour is used as a marker of “abnormality” that is linked to the person’s interpersonal difficulty. Non-suicidal self-injury behaviour (NSSI) within the eating disorder individual can be treated in the same way as the eating disorder behaviour. Within IPT, the therapist firstly aims to identify the interpersonal focus associated with the unhealthy behaviour, in order to work through this focus to reduce the behaviour. This chapter describes the modified version of IPT for eating disorders. It also makes suggestions how IPT may be used in a population of patients with eating disorders and NSSI, by including NSSI in addition to eating disorder behaviour as a marker of distress.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leicester Eating Disorders Service, Bennion Centre, Leicester Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, LE3 9DZ, UK

    Jon Arcelus & Jonathan Baggott

  2. Nottingham Gender Clinic, Mandala Centre, Gregory Boulevard, Nottingham, NG7 6LB, UK

    Walter Pierre Bouman

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  1. Jon Arcelus
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  2. Walter Pierre Bouman
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  3. Jonathan Baggott
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Correspondence to Jon Arcelus .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Laurence Claes

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, USA

    Jennifer J. Muehlenkamp

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Arcelus, J., Bouman, W.P., Baggott, J. (2014). The Use of Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Non-suicidal Self-Injury and Eating Disorders. In: Claes, L., Muehlenkamp, J. (eds) Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Eating Disorders. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40107-7_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40107-7_11

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