Exposure Therapy Study In Adults With Eating Disorders

The proposed study will explore whether Exp-AN works via inhibitory learning (i.e., decreasing anxious beliefs and increasing anxiety tolerance) and/or between-session habituation (i.e., decreasing anxiety levels across therapy sessions), and the importance of targeting anxiety about eating versus weight gain. Results will provide information about the degree to which all three mechanisms of action (i.e., changes in anxiety ratings, anxious beliefs, and tolerance of anxiety) predict improved AN symptomatology across both treatments. Research that discovers whether specific treatments (e.g., Exp-AN) work in the way the investigators think they do (e.g., by increasing tolerance of anxiety), and whether modifying intervention targets (e.g., tolerance of anxiety) helps people get better (e.g., reduced AN symptomatology), will ultimately lead to more personalized, mechanism-based, and effective treatments (Insel 2014; Insel et al., 2010).