W. Stewart Agras
Academic Appointments
- Professor Emeritus, Psychiatry & Behavioral Science - Behavioral Medicine
- Emeritus Faculty, Acad Council, Psychiatry & Behavioral Science - Behavioral Medicine
Key Documents
Contact Information
- Academic Offices
Personal Information Email Tel (650) 723-7107
Scientific Focus
Current Research Interests
The principal theme of my research is the understanding of human feeding and its disorders, namely: obesity, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder and selective eating (picky eating) across the age span. Current and past research projects range from basic studies through single site and multicenter clinical trials.
In a large-scale international multisite controlled clinical trial funded by the NIH two types of family therapy for anorexia nervosa are being compared. In addition to being a study site, our laboratory is the data and coordinating center for this study. Several large data sets from previous multisite studies allow for analyses both within and across studies involving large sample sizes. Hence, many secondary questions regarding the eating disorders can be addressed.
A second study is examining two methods of teaching community therapists the skills needed to use interpersonal psychotherapy for eating disorders and depression. This is a cluster randomized study in which college campuses across the US are randomly allocated to one of the teaching methods.
A further study is examining basic questions concerning the prevention of overweight in early childhood in preparation for a large-scale early prevention study. Other studies include the epidemiology and course of picky eating and in collaboration with Dr Jim Lock examining the treatment of bulimia nervosa in adolescents and the effects of using cognitive remediation therapy in adult anorexics.
Publications
- Improving healthy eating in families with a toddler at risk for overweight: A cluster randomized controlled trial. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics.
- Psychological treatments of binge eating disorder Archives of General Psychiatry. 2010: 94-101
- Childhood risk factors for thin body preoccupation and social pressure to be thin. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2007; (2): 171-8
- A comparison of short- and long-term family therapy for adolescent anorexia nervosa. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2005; (7): 632-9
- Risk factors for childhood overweight: a prospective study from birth to 9.5 years. J Pediatr. 2004; (1): 20-5
- Mediators and moderators of treatment effects in randomized clinical trials. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2002; (10): 877-83
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