Prof. dr. Sandra Mulkens, Endowed Professor of Feeding and Eating Disorders
Prof. dr. Sandra Mulkens holds an endowed chair “Feeding and Eating disorders”. In this appointment, she is affiliated with SeysCentra, a specialized treatment center for children with feeding and eating problems, where she holds the position of ‘Head Research and Development’. Moreover, she is a licensed clinical psychologist, psychotherapist, and cognitive-behavioral therapist, and supervisor.
She conducts research on eating disorders, body image, Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), cosmetic surgery, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). She also treats patients suffering from eating disorders (mainly adults with ARFID). Her research aims at investigating maintaining factors and (CBT) treatment options for individuals with avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) and its comorbidity. Next to that, she was involved in translating various diagnostic instruments for ARFID, which are currently being investigated regarding their psychometric properties and norms. These instruments include the NIAS (Nine Item ARFID Screen), EDY-Q (Eating Disturbances in Youth Questionnaire), SAS (Short ARFID Screen, 3 versions; for patients, parents, and clinicians), WMTM (What Matters To Me?), the PARDI (Pica, ARFID, and Rumination Disorder Interview; 4 versions), and the PARDI-AR-Q (PARDI-ARFID-Questionnaire). Furthermore, she investigated the relationship between psychopathology and the desire for and outcome of cosmetic surgery, collaborating with several plastic surgical centers.
- Scientific Publications
- Project websites:
- Email directly
- Clinical affiliations:
- Klinisch Psycholoog (BIG-nummer: 79051433925)
- Psychotherapeut (BIG-nummer: 99051433916)
- Cognitief Gedragstherapeut/supervisor (VGCt: 002287)
Publications that I’m most proud of
To deliver or not to deliver cognitive behavioral therapy for eating disorders: Replication and extension of our understanding of why therapists fail to do what they should do. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 2018.
This study – unfortunately – replicates the scary findings from a previous UK study that Dutch CBT therapists are also subject to “therapist drift” (i.e., deviating from evidence based treatments, for example talking a lot instead of “doing”/carrying out exposure exercises). Moreover, it appears that certain therapists are more at risk: anxious therapists are more inclined to avoid exposure exercises. Also, we provide suggestions to prevent “therapist drift” from happening.
New Developments in Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for Eating Disorders (CBT-ED). Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 2021.
This literature review provides the current state of the art regarding treatment efficacy of CBT in eating disorders.
The obsessive compulsive spectrum: a network analysis. Psychiatry Research, 2022.
The study is interesting because it explores which common phenomena are underlying certain disorders of the obsessive compulsive spectrum. This is done by means of network analyses.
