W. Stewart Agras

Postdoctoral Advisees

Athena Robinson

Research Interests

The principal theme of my research is the understanding of human feeding and its disorders, namely: obesity, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder. Current research projects span the developmental continuum and range from basic studies through multicenter clinical trials.

Little is known about the development of feeding behavior and potential influences of developmental processes on both obesity and the eating disorders. In an ongoing study, a cohort of infants is being followed from birth to eight years of age, with detailed assessment of feeding behavior and family influences on such behavior both in the laboratory and in the natural environment. Other laboratory based studies include a dissection of factors influencing binge eating. It appears that transient negative mood is an important factor triggering loss of control over eating, and leading to the classification of eating episodes as binges rather than overeating. This suggests that emotionally driven cognitive processes are of primary importance in maintaining the symptoms of bulimia nervosa. In several multicenter controlled clinical trials funded by both NIH and McKnight Foundation, both pharmacologic and psychotherapeutic treatments for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are being investigated. In addition to being a study site, our laboratory is the data center for each of these studies, allowing for analyses both within and across studies involving large sample sizes. Hence, many secondary questions regarding the eating disorders can be addressed from this data set.

Clinical Trials

• Prevention of Childhood Overweight Recruiting
• Prevention of childhood obesity Recruiting

Publications

• Childhood risk factors for thin body preoccupation and social pressure to be thin. Agras WS, Bryson S, Hammer LD, Kraemer HC. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2007; 46 (2): 171-8
• A comparison of short- and long-term family therapy for adolescent anorexia nervosa. Lock J, Agras WS, Bryson S, Kraemer HC. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2005; 44 (7): 632-9
• Risk factors for childhood overweight: a prospective study from birth to 9.5 years. Agras WS, Hammer LD, McNicholas F, Kraemer HC. J Pediatr. 2004; 145 (1): 20-5
• Mediators and moderators of treatment effects in randomized clinical trials. Kraemer HC, Wilson GT, Fairburn CG, Agras WS. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2002; 59 (10): 877-83
• A 4-year prospective study of eating disorder NOS compared with full eating disorder syndromes. Agras WS, Crow S, Mitchell JE, Halmi KA, Bryson S. Int J Eat Disord. 2009; 42 (6): 565-70