ArticleBody image2023
"You Don't Look Anorexic": Atypical anorexia patient experiences of weight stigma in medical care.
Article in Body image, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 61 citations in OpenAlex.
- Weight bias in mental health settings: a scoping review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- A Multi-Site Study of Brief Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for Eating Disorders for Individuals With BMI ≥ 30.European eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association · 2026Observational
- Weight status and pathways to eating disorder referral from primary care in England and Northern Ireland: a cross-sectional analysis of routine care data.The Lancet. Primary care · 2026Article
- Youth with severe obesity do not demonstrate increased eating disorder symptoms following family-based behavioral obesity treatment.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2026Article
- Eating disorder psychopathology relates to weight loss medication and supplement use 6 months later in women.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2026Article
- A Weight-Inclusive Approach to Restrictive Eating Disorders: De-Centering Weight.The International journal of eating disorders · 2026Review
- "I feel like there's going to have to be catastrophe before I am seen:..and that is going to be devastating": Visibility, recognition, and medical silencing in eating disorders and disordered eating.PLOS mental health · 2026Article
- A Comparison of Psychiatric Comorbid Symptomology Between Adolescents With Restrictive/Avoidant Food Intake Disorder, Anorexia Nervosa and Atypical Anorexia Nervosa.European eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association · 2026Article
- Key features of illness and treatment experiences in longstanding anorexia nervosa: qualitative descriptive study.BJPsych open · 2025Article
- Assessing eating disorder education in U.S. medical schools: a qualitative content analysis of lecture slides.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2025Article
- What does taking olanzapine mean to young people with anorexia nervosa and their families? Findings from the OPEN feasibility trial.Journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- Managing adolescent eating disorders in primary care: a qualitative study of provider perspectives.Journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- Early intervention for eating disorders: a call to action for inclusion of minoritized groups.Eating disorders · 2025Article
- Weight Stigma in the Development, Maintenance, and Treatment of Eating Disorders: A Case Series Informing Implications for Research and Practice.Research on child and adolescent psychopathology · 2025Article
- The impact of weight and race on perceptions of anorexia nervosa: a replication and extension of Varnado-Sullivan et al. (2020).Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2025Article
- Clinical Experiences Using Family Based Treatment for Eating Disorders.The International journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- The Loss of Autonomy in Eating Disorder Treatment: A Patient Perspective.Journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing · 2025Article
- The Thorny Issue of Atypical Anorexia Nervosa: Clinicians' Perspectives on How It Should Be Defined.European eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association · 2025Article
- Mealtime challenges from the perspectives of adolescents with anorexia nervosa and atypical anorexia nervosa and their caregivers enrolled in family-based treatment.Eating behaviors · 2025Article
- Increasing Response Vigour Under Time Pressure as a Transdiagnostic Marker of Eating Disorders.Computational psychiatry (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Eating disorders (ED) and weight stigma pose significant healthcare challenges. Patients at higher weights, like some with atypical anorexia (AAN), may face increased challenges due to weight stigma. This study analyzed patients' lived experiences with weight stigma in healthcare. Thirty-eight adult patients with AAN completed in-depth, semi-structured interviews regarding healthcare experiences. Guided by narrative inquiry approaches, transcripts were thematically coded. Across the illness trajectory (ED development, pre-treatment, treatment, post-treatment), patients reported that weight stigma in healthcare contributed to initiation and persistence of ED behaviors. Themes included "providers pathologizing patient weight," which patients reported triggered ED behaviors and relapse, "provider minimization and denial" of patients' EDs, which contributed to delays in screening and care, and "overt forms of weight discrimination," leading to healthcare avoidance. Participants reported that weight stigma prolonged ED behaviors, delayed care, created suboptimal treatment environments, deterred help-seeking, and lowered healthcare utilization. This suggests that many providers (pediatricians, primary care providers, ED treatment specialists, other healthcare specialists) may inadvertently reinforce patients' EDs. Increasing training, screening for EDs across the weight spectrum, and targeting health behavior promotion rather than universal weight loss, could enhance quality of care and improve healthcare engagement for patients with EDs, particularly those at higher weights.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.