Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Flodmark, Carl-Erik

Titel

Chapter 37 - Psychotherapy as an Intervention for Child Obesity

Ist Teil von

• Global Perspectives on Childhood Obesity, 2011, p.401-410

Ort / Verlag

Elsevier Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2011

Link zum Volltext

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• This chapter reviews studies that show family therapy to be effective in preventing the development of gross obesity during childhood. Furthermore, behavioral therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy show long-term effects. Many studies in childhood obesity treatment do not focus on the methodological questions. This leaves the outcome up to the skills of the treatment team, which are not described and cannot be conveyed to another study. Moreover, the same problem is faced in most prevention trials. Thus, it is of major importance that the methodological issues receive more attention. The reasons for treating childhood obesity are the negative long-term effects on health. It is not known what is the lowest degree of childhood obesity, expressed in BMI, at which future complications such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes start to be overrepresented when compared with the normal-weight population. Current studies are good examples of a systemic medical approach integrating psychological methods with medical treatment where the different needs of the individual were taken care of with standard family therapy techniques still gaining a good result. However, the need for urgent action regarding childhood obesity makes further research in this field of knowledge necessary.