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Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder

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Principle-Based Stepped Care and Brief Psychotherapy for Integrated Care Settings

Abstract

Oral consumption of food and drink is often viewed as a basic behavior that is present immediately following birth with advancements in intake of variety, volume, texture of foods, and overall independence occurring following a developmental trajectory. However, Learning to eat is a complex process, which may be disrupted or delayed by medical complications, structural or anatomical abnormalities, neurodevelopmental disabilities, conditioned aversion or other environmental factors. Difficulties with feeding has the potential to impact the child’s growth and development, opportunities for socialization and community participation, and often contribute to increased caregiver stress. The first stop for caregivers concerned about their child’s mealtime behavior is the primary care physician/provider (PCP). This chapter provides an overview of pediatric feeding problems and Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), associated conditions, steps to screening for feeding problems in the PCP setting, and evidence-based care coordination and empirically supported treatments learning to eat is a complex process. For many children, this natural progression of feeding development is delayed and/or is disrupted by medical complications, structural or anatomical abnormalities, neurodevelopmental disabilities, conditioned aversion, or other environmental factors (Berlin, Lobato, Pinkos, Cerezo, & LeLeikos, 2011).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pediatric Development and Therapy Center, Our Lady of the Lake Physicians Group, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70806, USA

    Melissa L. González

  2. Pediatric Feeding Disorders Program, St. Vincent, Evansville, IN, 47714, USA

    Thomas D. Mulderink

  3. Department of Behavior Psychology, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Peter A. Girolami

Authors
  1. Melissa L. González
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  2. Thomas D. Mulderink
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  3. Peter A. Girolami
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Melissa L. González .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA

    Alexandros Maragakis

  2. Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, USA

    William T. O'Donohue

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González, M.L., Mulderink, T.D., Girolami, P.A. (2018). Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. In: Maragakis, A., O'Donohue, W. (eds) Principle-Based Stepped Care and Brief Psychotherapy for Integrated Care Settings. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70539-2_6

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