Early Intervention for Eating Disorders

In this chapter, we distinguish between prevention and early intervention and outline the rationale for early intervention in eating disorders. We introduce the key concept of duration of untreated eating disorder (DUED), a useful metric for assessing the success of early intervention services. Various evidence-based early intervention models for eating disorders are described, most prominently the First Episode Rapid Early intervention for Eating Disorders (FREED) model, developed in the UK. Studies on FREED show that early intervention significantly reduces DUED and results in dramatically improved clinical outcomes and reduced hospitalization rates. We also discuss how early intervention models need to adapt and reset in a postpandemic world where there is a major increase in newly arising eating disorders. Finally, we discuss ways in which to make early intervention earlier, better integrated, and more inclusive.