A review of psychotherapeutic interventions for children and adolescents with eating disorders.
OBJECTIVE
Psychotherapeutic interventions for child and adolescent eating disorders have recently received increasing attention in the research literature. This article attempts to summarize these studies.


METHODS
The current literature was reviewed using the PubMed and Embase databases under the search terms eating disorders, child, adolescent, and psychotherapy. Here we will present a practical overview of the current evidence for psychotherapeutic interventions in this clinical population.


RESULTS
There have been some very promising findings with regards to specific types of therapy for anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN) and binge eating disorder (BED).


CONCLUSIONS
The best evidence available suggests that family-therapy models are most effective for treating adolescents with AN, and that CBT models are most effective for adolescent BN, although family-based treatment may also be effective for adolescents with BN. Too few studies have been done on BED in adolescents to draw any conclusions; however CBT, IPT and DBT are all theoretically promising.
Rutherford
Leanna
L
University of Western Ontario, London Health Sciences Center, London, Ontario. lrutherf@uwo.ca
Couturier
Jennifer
J