Join a webinar and gain knowledge from an experts on eating disorders.
Autistic individuals are especially vulnerable to eating disorders. While many evidence-based treatments exist for eating disorders, research has found that individuals with autism do not respond the same as neurotypical peers and frequently require adaptations to treatment. In this webinar, the presenters will explain the behavioral and biological commonalities between autism and different eating disorders. Neuroaffirming adaptations to common eating disorder treatments will be explored. Additionally, parent interventions to support eating disorder recovery in individuals with autism will be illustrated. Case examples will be provided throughout this presentation.
Melissa Nishawala, MD is the medical director of the autism program and the clinical director of the feeding and eating disorder program at the NYU Child Study Center where she has more than 25 years of experience treating children, adolescents and adults with eating disorders, autism and related conditions.
Dr. Michelle Miller is a clinical psychologist at NYU Child Study Center where she has been providing evidence based-treatments and assessments for over a decade. Dr. Miller specializes in treating eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, tic disorders, trichotillomania and autism spectrum disorder. Dr. Miller additionally has expertise in conducting autism evaluations.
Research has found that eating disorders share a common combination of traits that increase vulnerability for illness. These traits can also be used adaptively to support recovery. Attendees will learn about temperament and how trait expression can result in their child’s eating disorder symptoms. They will be introduced to parent strategies that can help shift destructively expressed traits into more productive expressions to support recovery. Several of the strategies that will be discussed derive from Temperament Based Therapy with Support (TBT-S). TBT-S is an emerging, personalized, strength-based treatment approach for eating disorders that integrates patients’ temperamental traits and neurobiological research into therapeutic strategies to reduce symptoms and achieve recovery.
Dr. Christina Wierenga is a Professor of Psychiatry, clinical neuropsychologist and Director of the Research Program at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) Eating Disorders Center. She is an expert in the neurobiology of eating disorders. She conducts neuroimaging and neuropsychological research examining the brain basis of disordered eating to identify mechanisms of illness and targets of treatment. She also oversees the measurement-based care program at the UCSD Eating Disorders Center to assess treatment outcomes and advance clinical care. Through close collaboration with Drs. Stephanie Peck and Laura Hill, she co-developed Temperament-Based Therapy with Support (TBT-S), an adjunctive neurobiologically-informed treatment approach for adolescents and adults with eating disorders.
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