- Basic premise: Active and structured family involvement in the treatment of adolescents suffering from anorexia nervosa significantly increases the likelihood of positive treatment outcomes.
- Essence of therapy: Family-Based Treatment (FBT) for anorexia nervosa is an outpatient intervention for adolescents who are medically stable, and consists of three phases: (1) parents take charge of the process of nutritional rehabilitation and weight restoration with the help of the therapist; (2) control over eating is returned to the adolescent in an age appropriate fashion; (3) issues of psychosocial development in the absence of an eating disorder are addressed. FBT also aims to correct misperceptions and misattributions of blame for the patient’s illness. That is, neither the parents nor the adolescent is responsible for the eating disorder. Therefore, FBT takes a theoretically agnostic approach to the etiology of this disorder. [Note: Family therapy for adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN) was developed at the Maudsley Hospital in London, United Kingdom, in the 1980’s by a team of clinicians lead by Ivan Eisler, PhD, and Christopher Dare, MD. Family-based treatment (FBT) for adolescents with AN is an adaptation of this London-based approach. It was through the collective work of Daniel Le Grange, PhD, a psychologist who trained with the Maudsley team in the 1980’s, and then moved to The University of Chicago, and James Lock, MD, PhD, a Stanford University Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, that a clinician’s manual of FBT was written. FBT is not the same as family therapy for adolescents with AN, but is a very close ‘relative’, and has now been utilized in several randomized clinical trials.]
- Length: Approximately 15-20 sessions conducted over 6-12 months
Other Treatment Resources
- Relapse from remission at two- to four-year follow-up in two treatments for adolescent anorexia nervosa (Le Grange et al., 2014)
- Moderators and mediators of remission in family-based treatment and adolescent focused therapy for anorexia nervosa (Le Grange et al., 2012)
- Family therapy for adolescent anorexia nervosa (Le Grange, 1999)
Meta-analyses and Systematic Reviews
- Anorexia nervosa treatment: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials (Bulik et al., 2007)
- Efficacy of family-based treatment for adolescents with eating disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis (Couturier et al., 2013)
Clinical Trials
- Randomized clinical trial comparing family-based treatment with adolescent-focused individual therapy for adolescents with anorexia nervosa (Lock et al., 2010)
- Evaluation of family treatments in adolescent anorexia nervosa: A pilot study (Le Grange et al., 1992)
- Family therapy for adolescent anorexia nervosa: The results of a controlled comparison of two family interventions (Eisler et al., 2000)
- Randomized clinical trial comparing family-based treatment with adolescent-focused individual therapy for adolescents with anorexia nervosa (Lock et al., 2010)
- A controlled comparison of family versus individual therapy for adolescents with anorexia nervosa (Robin et al., 1999)
- Clinical effectiveness of treatments for anorexia nervosa in adolescents: Randomised controlled trial (Gowers et al., 2007)
- A comparison of short- and long-term family therapy for adolescent anorexia nervosa (Lock et al., 2005)
- An evaluation of family therapy in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa (Russell et al., 1987)
- A randomized controlled trial of inpatient treatment for anorexia nervosa in medically unstable adolescents (Madden et al., 2014)
Training Materials and Workshops
- Family therapy for anorexia nervosa (Dare & Eisler, 1997)
- Treating adolescents with anorexia nervosa using behavioral family systems therapy (Robin & Le Grange, 2010; In Evidence-Based Psychotherapies for Children and Adolescents)
- Treating adolescents with eating disorders in the family context: Empirical and theoretical considerations (Lock, 2002)
Related Diagnosis
Anorexia Nervosa
EST Status
N/A
2015 EST Status
Treatment pending re-evaluation
1998 EST Status
Strong