Inaugural lecture by Klaske Glashouwer: Focus on the core processes in eating disorders

Treatments for young people with eating disorders can be strengthened by looking more precisely at the processes that maintain these problems. That is what Klaske Glashouwer, clinical psychologist and cognitive behavioural therapist at Accare child and adolescent psychiatry, argues. On 23 January, she will deliver her inaugural lecture in the Academy Building.

According to Glashouwer, current treatments help many young people, but there is important progress to be made in better understanding the processes that determine why recovery sometimes does and sometimes does not take off. By mapping those core processes more clearly, treatments can be used in a more targeted and effective way.

In her research, Glashouwer focuses on possible processes that influence recovery, such as emotions like self-disgust, persistent interaction patterns between young people and their environment, and the way young people experience their own bodies. To better understand these processes, she combines interviews and questionnaires with experimental research, including in virtual reality. In addition, she works with colleagues on new treatment components that are tested and adjusted step by step.

Research and clinical experience show that young people are reached more effectively when information and support match their lived experience. Online platforms, anonymous chat functions and evidence-based self-help tools lower the threshold for sharing concerns and seeking help earlier.

In her inaugural lecture, Glashouwer calls for more focus: direct research and innovation toward the processes that maintain an eating disorder or help break it. She also emphasises the importance of early detection, digital accessibility and strong collaboration between institutions, so that young people can find their way to appropriate care more quickly.

In the coming years, she aims to further investigate which processes stimulate recovery and to develop interventions that build directly on that knowledge. The goal is for well-founded insights to reach clinical practice more quickly.