Birgit Olsson Lecture 2011
Professor Janet Treasure's lecture “Building coherence from mechanism to treatment in eating disorders”
About Professor Janet Treasure
Professor Janet Treasure, who is Professor of Psychiatry at King’s College, London and head of the Eating Disorders Unit at the SouthLondon and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Professor Treasure has published over 300 peer-reviewed papers on eating disorders covering all aspects of the field including genetics, cognition, neuroimaging, physical complications and treatment.
Summary
"Building coherence from mechanism to treatment in eating disorders”.
The first Birgit Olsson lecture was held by Janet Treasure, Professor of Psychiatry at King's College, London and director of the Eating Disorders Unit at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Professor Treasure is an international authority in the field of eating disorders and her research covers a wide spectrum of fields, ranging from animal models and genetics to neuropsychology and interventions. Her lecture was titled "Building coherence from mechanism to treatment in eating disorders". The presentation highlighted specific difficulties for people with anorexia nervosa in terms of behaviour and cognition and drew parallels to the set of problems found in the autism spectrum. Christopher Gillberg and associates have been pioneers in highlighting the relationship between anorexia nervosa and autism. Treasure’s group has, through various studies, confirmed and deepened this knowledge, and on the basis of these findings developed new forms of treatment. The people who might potentially be helped by the new forms of treatment are primarily people who are rigid and employ detail-oriented thinking, and do not recover from anorexia nervosa. The lecture was very well received and drew a considerable crowd. After the lecture time was set aside for questions from the audience.