Mindfulness-based eating awareness training (MB-EAT) is a group intervention for binge eating disorder (BED), which involves emotional, behavioral, and physiological dysregulation around food and self-identity. The training uses mindfulness meditation and guided practices to help individuals control responses to emotions, make conscious food choices, recognize hunger and satiety cues, and cultivate self-acceptance. Current evidence indicates that MB-EAT reduces binge episodes, improves self-control over eating, and lessens depressive symptoms.
Ayahuasca, a psychedelic plant medicine from Indigenous Amazonian communities, is being explored as a novel treatment for eating disorders (EDs), which are difficult to resolve. Aspects of ceremonial ayahuasca use, such as purging and dietary restrictions, resemble ED behaviors, raising concerns about its suitability. Interviews with 15 ayahuasca ceremony leaders, mostly from the West/Global North, revealed categories including screening for EDs, purging and dietary restrictions, potential risks, and complementarity with conventional ED treatment. The findings suggest careful screening and extra support can promote safe ceremony experiences. More research is needed on purging and preparatory diets. The ED field could collaborate with ayahuasca ceremony leaders in a decolonizing, bidirectional bridging between Western and Indigenous healing paradigms.
A review of studies published in 2024 on eating disorder treatment covers advances for anorexia nervosa, including better severity measures and treatment targets, and for binge-spectrum disorders, the role of purging and non-purging behaviors. Novel interventions such as yoga-based and ayahuasca-based approaches, along with methods to aid weight restoration, are examined. Evidence on comorbidities and their effect on illness severity and outcomes, access to specialized care, and non-outpatient levels of care is also reviewed. The articles indicate promise in treatment advances but underscore the need for further work to develop more effective therapies.