Maxine Howard

Maxine Howard
Maxine is a PhD student at University College London conducting clinically focused research in the field of eating disorders. Her research interests combine neuroimaging, behavioural, and computational approaches to better understand eating disorders. She is interested in the interaction between dieting behaviour and personality characteristics in the development of an eating disorder, and possible overlap with addictive disorders. Previous to starting her PhD Maxine spent a year as a full time voluntary research assistant at the Medical Research Council, Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge. During this time she studied emotional memory in depression, mindfulness meditation, and emotion regulation in borderline personality disorder. Maxine is interested in increasing the availability of scientific research, by disseminating findings in an accessible format through social media. She hopes to challenge the stereotypes and stigma commonly associated with mental illness by increasing public understanding of these disorders.

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Do mental health websites improve help-seeking in adolescents?

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Maxine Howard summarises the findings of a recent review of online mental health services for young people, which finds little evidence to suggest that websites increase help-seeking in adolescents.

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One in 10 people in South East London report that they suffer from disordered eating, according to new survey

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Historically, eating disorders have been discussed in a very black and white fashion; either you do or you don’t have one. Whilst this may be beneficial in terms of research and diagnosis, it isn’t particularly helpful for those that sit in the grey area between the two. People in this grey area are often referred [read the full story…]

RCT compares two different versions of enhanced cognitive behavioural therapy for anorexia nervosa in an inpatient setting

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A general misconception about anorexia is that it’s just about eating and ‘being thin’, but it’s more complex than that. The illness affects multiple aspects of a person’s life, and often goes hand in hand with other psychological issues such as low mood, or excessive worry. In addition, the jury is still out on the exact [read the full story…]

Weak evidence from recent review suggests there is no harm when using exercise to treat anorexia nervosa

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Exercise is usually promoted as a healthy behaviour, with government guidelines on how much we should all do per week. At the right levels many people find exercise an enjoyable way to improve their health, but is this always the case? For a particular group of people who have problems with eating and weight, this [read the full story…]