Single Session Interventions

The concept of using a single session to intervene for persons facing barriers to care for suspected eating disorders was first suggested by Jessica L. Schleider, PhD and colleagues (Int J Eat Disord. 2023. Dpi.org/10). The concept was to overcome the barriers that keep up to 80% of people from receiving counseling and care for eating disorders. The idea of single sessions was proposed to develop a pathway to developing accessible programs. The sessions can be stand-alone or added to clinical support sessions. Although the session may be the last for the individual, any single session has benefits, according to the authors. They note that further investigations should target eating disorder risk factors and symptoms that the single sessions cannot address, such as purging and binge eating [Also see “Early Interventions for Eating Disorders,” elsewhere in this issue.]

The suggestion was quickly followed by many questions from a number of eating disorders professionals, including Australians Jake Linardon, PhD, and Matthew Fuller-Tyskiewicz, PhD, of Deakin University, and Dr. Tracey D. Wade, of Flinders University Institute for Mental Health and Wellbeing, Adelaide, South Australia (Int J Eat Disord. 2023:56:867, and Int J Eat Disord. 2023. 86:853).

The clinicians asked a number of further questions about the single sessions, including identifying an individual who would be a good candidate for the single sessions; what are the best treatment mechanisms to use; what is a “good” outcome; and where should the single sessions be held? Should treatment waitlists be used? Further studies may help clarify these questions.