Two different family-based therapies are both effective at combating anorexia nervosa in teenagers, according to the largest study ever to compare two such treatments for the life-threatening eating disorder.
The findings, from a multisite study led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine, add to a growing body of evidence supporting the value of parents' involvement in anorexia treatment.
The results, which will be published Sept. 24 in JAMA Psychiatry, follow prior Stanford research that found a family-based approach was twice as effective as individual therapy for treating adolescent anorexia patients.
"The take-away message for parents is that, first, there is good treatment available for their child who is struggling with anorexia," said Stewart Agras, MD, professor emeritus of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford and the lead author of the new study. "Second, the preferred treatment is family-based therapy in which parents help their child regain weight."
Anorexia nervosa patients suffer distorted body image, erroneously believing they are overweight. They overexercise and refuse to eat enough to maintain a healthy body weight. The disease, which affects about 0.5 to 0.7 percent of adolescent girls, has one of the highest suicide rates of any psychiatric disorder.
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