Schematic Models and Modes of Mind in Anorexia Nervosa II: Implications for Treatment and Course

The ICS account of Anorexia nervosa emphasises how attention to different aspects of experience combined with the impact of cognitive, emotional and bodily inputs can lead to a novel understanding of AN maintenance and routes for recovery. The hallmark of a useful theory is that it should be capable not only of generating new ways of explaining clinical course and understanding phenomenology, but should also generate detailed ideas about how to improve clinical practice and develop new treatments. ICS predicts that cultivating a ‘being embodied’ mode of mind, involving a shift in quality of attention to emotional and somatic experience, as a common route to recovery. In this sequel paper, we elaborate on processes involved in the course of AN, and theoretical and clinical implications of the account. Therapeutic strategies to remodel relationships between thoughts, emotions and bodily states in AN following directly from this theoretical analysis are then discussed.