Eating disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine: an overview of risks and recommendations for treatment and early intervention

ABSTRACT

Individuals with eating disorders (EDs) are at significant risk for increases in symptomatology and diminished treatment access during the COVID-19 pandemic. Environmental precautions to limit coronavirus spread have affected food availability and access to healthy coping mechanisms, and have contributed to weight-stigmatizing social media messages that may be uniquely harmful to those experiencing EDs. Additionally, changes in socialization and routine, stress, and experiences of trauma that are being experienced globally may be particularly deleterious to ED risk and recovery. This paper presents a brief review of the pertinent literature related to the risk of EDs in the context of COVID-19 and offers suggestions for modifying intervention efforts to accommodate the unique challenges individuals with EDs and providers may be experiencing in light of the ongoing public health crisis.

Acknowledgments

The authors of this paper collaborated as part of the PsychVersusCovid eating disorders working group.

Disclosures

Author KC is funded by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program under Grant No. (DGE-1433187). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Author LMA was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health under award number T32 MH082671. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.