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Can Eating Disorders Become ‘Contagious’ in Group Therapy and Specialized Inpatient Care?
Author(s) -
Vandereycken Walter
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
european eating disorders review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.511
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1099-0968
pISSN - 1072-4133
DOI - 10.1002/erv.1087
Subject(s) - imitation , eating disorders , psychology , competition (biology) , group psychotherapy , identification (biology) , psychotherapist , psychiatry , clinical psychology , social psychology , ecology , biology
Eating disorders belong to the broad category of self‐harming behaviours which may be acquired in a social learning process of imitation, identification and competition. Hence, we should question the possible dangers or unwanted side‐effects in treating patients together within a common therapeutic setting. But little is known about the frequency and extent of possibly negative influences of treatment in a group format, the so‐called risk of ‘peer contagion’ in group therapy and/or inpatient treatment. We review in this paper the rather scarce literature on this subject in order to stimulate more critical thinking and systematic research. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.