Bio

Dr. Aileen Whyte, a licensed psychologist in California, brings over two decades of specialized expertise to the treatment of eating disorders in young people. Beyond her clinical practice, Dr. Whyte actively works on implementing strategies to expand the reach of evidence-based treatments for eating disorders, aiming to make these best-practice interventions more accessible to a wider population.

Dr Whyte serves as the Director of the Stanford Outpatient Child & Adolescent Eating Disorders Clinic, where she provides treatment to young people with eating disorders and provides supervision to psychology and psychiatry fellows. Dr Whyte is a certified practitioner and consultant in Family-Based Treatment (FBT) for eating disorders. She serves as a study therapist in NIMH-sponsored randomized clinical trials focused on examining FBT and related adaptations.

In addition to her clinical responsibilities, Dr. Whyte has led multiple seminars, workshops, and training sessions dedicated to the treatment of eating disorders. She provides ongoing training and consultation in FBT, reaching diverse audiences, including multidisciplinary clinicians, psychologists, and psychiatrists, within the US and internationally.

Dr. Whyte earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the New School for Social Research in New York. Her research and clinical interests converge on the implementation and dissemination of evidence-based treatments for eating disorders.

Clinical Focus

  • Clinical Psychology

Academic Appointments

Professional Education

  • PhD Training: New School for Social Research (1999) NY
  • Internship: Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center Clinical Psychology (1997) NY

Contact

  • Academic
    awhyte@stanford.edu
    University - Academic staff Department: Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences - Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Child Development Position: Clinical Associate Professor
  • Clinical (Primary)  Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences 401 Quarry Rd MC 5795 Stanford, CA 94305 (650) 723-8331 (fax)

Additional Clinical Info

Additional Info

All Publications

  • Enhancing Distress Tolerance Skills in Adolescents With Anorexia Nervosa Through the BALANCE Mobile App: Feasibility and Acceptability Study. JMIR formative research Miranda, C., Matheson, B., Datta, N., Whyte, A., Yang, H. J., Schmiedmayer, P., Ravi, V., Aalami, O., Lock, J. 2025; 9: e70278

    Abstract

    Anorexia nervosa is a severe psychiatric disorder with high morbidity and mortality, particularly among adolescents. Family-based treatment (FBT) is the leading evidence-based intervention for adolescent anorexia nervosa, involving parents in renourishment and behavior interruption. Despite its effectiveness, challenges in distress tolerance and emotion regulation during high-stress situations, such as mealtimes, contribute to suboptimal treatment outcomes, with only 35% to 50% of adolescents achieving full recovery. Enhancing distress tolerance skills during FBT may improve treatment responses and recovery rates. The BALANCE mobile app was developed to address this need, offering real-time, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)-based distress tolerance skills to support adolescents and families during mealtimes.Our aim was to explore the feasibility and acceptability of a mobile app designed to deliver distress tolerance skills to adolescents with and adolescents without anorexia nervosa. When fully programmed and optimized, we plan to use the mobile app to improve distress tolerance during mealtimes for adolescents with anorexia nervosa undergoing FBT.BALANCE was developed collaboratively with Stanford University's Center for Biodesign, leveraging the expertise of clinical psychologists and using biodesign student input and the Stanford Spezi ecosystem. The app underwent an iterative development process, with feedback from adolescent users. The initial feasibility and acceptability of the app were assessed through self-reported questionnaires and structured interviews with 24 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years, including 4 diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and 20 healthy controls. Adolescents with anorexia nervosa specifically used the app during mealtimes, and healthy controls used it as needed. Participants assessed the app's usability, perceived effectiveness, and its impact on their distress tolerance.The app demonstrated high usability and acceptability. Of 24 participants, 83% (n=20) reported enjoying the app, 88% (n=21) would recommend it to peers, and 100% (n=24) found it user-friendly. Adolescents with anorexia nervosa reported that BALANCE helped them manage stressful mealtimes more effectively, highlighting features such as guided meditation, breathing exercises, and gamification elements as particularly effective. Healthy controls provided additional feedback, confirming the app's broad appeal to the target audience and potential scalability. Preliminary findings suggest that BALANCE may enhance distress tolerance in adolescents with and adolescents without anorexia nervosa.BALANCE shows promise as an innovative mobile health intervention for enhancing distress tolerance in adolescents with anorexia nervosa. Its user-friendly design and tailored DBT-based skills make it a feasible tool for integration into FBT. Future research should explore its integration into clinical practice and its impact on treatment outcomes. As distress tolerance skills are relevant to a range of mental health conditions, future research may also expand BALANCE's application to broader adolescent populations.

    View details for DOI 10.2196/70278

    View details for PubMedID 40019817

  • Feasibility and acceptability of a pilot studying investigating multi-family parent-only guided self-help family-based treatment for adolescent anorexia nervosa. The International journal of eating disorders Matheson, B. E., Van Wye, E., Whyte, A., Lock, J. 2024

    Abstract

    Family-based treatment (FBT) is an efficacious treatment for adolescent anorexia nervosa (AN). A parent-only guided self-help version of FBT (GSH-FBT) demonstrated preliminary efficacy in pilot investigations. To address challenges in access to care, we adapted GSH-FBT into a parent-only multi-family group format (MF-GSH-FBT) delivered via videoconferencing.This report details the feasibility and acceptability of a parent-only group-based multi-family GSH-FBT (MF-GSH-FBT) for adolescent AN delivered virtually. The MF-GSH-FBT intervention consisted of 12 weekly 60-min sessions facilitated by a clinician in addition to online FBT video content and recommended readings. Adolescents and parents completed assessments at baseline and post-treatment. Parents reported their child's weight each week.A total of 13 adolescents (15.57 + 1.63 years; 92% female; 23% Hispanic) with AN and their parents enrolled and initiated treatment. Four consecutive cohorts of groups of 3-4 families were completed from April 2022 to April 2023. Across cohorts, parents attended 85% of sessions. Most parents rated the treatment sessions as helpful (79%; agree/strongly agree) and felt supported by the other group members (84%). All parents (100%) reported MF-GSH-FBT helped their child, and most (90%) reported their child had improved by end-of-treatment. On average, adolescents gained 3.53 kg (SD: 3.76) from pre- to post-treatment, with percent estimated mean body weight increasing 5% on average. Parental self-efficacy also increased from baseline to end-of-treatment.MF-GSH-FBT for AN appears feasible and acceptable to parents participating in this pilot study. Challenges with recruitment and adolescent data collection remain questions for future investigation.This study describes initial pilot testing of a virtual guided self-help family-based treatment for adolescents with anorexia nervosa delivered in a multi-family group format. This treatment aims to enhance access to family-based treatment for anorexia nervosa whilst providing additional support to parents.

    View details for DOI 10.1002/eat.24182

    View details for PubMedID 38419434

  • Family Based Treatment for Eating Disorders Piece by Piece. A Practical Guide for Parents James, L., Aileen, W., Brittany, M., Nandini, D. Routledge. 2024

    View details for DOI 10.4324/9781003353041

  • Externalisation in family-based treatment of anorexia nervosa: The therapist's experience JOURNAL OF FAMILY THERAPY Lonergan, K., Whyte, A., Ryan, C. 2022; 44 (3): 351-369

    View details for DOI 10.1111/1467-6427.12380

    View details for Web of Science ID 000844229000001

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8474-5197