Anorexia nervosa in adults: The urgent need for novel outpatient treatments that work.
Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a serious psychiatric disorder that often follows a protracted course, and continues to confound those who attempt treatment once the patient has reached adulthood. Several randomized clinical trials for adults with AN have tested well-known therapies such as cognitive behavior therapy, supportive psychotherapies, or focal psychodynamic therapy, all of which have delivered frustratingly few helpful treatment strategies. Perhaps a different path could be pursued where we do not aim to cure all patients with 1 or 2 of these well-trodden therapies. Instead, a more targeted alternative, testing several novel approaches, could collectively reach a larger cohort of patients suffering from AN, the most lethal of all psychiatric disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco.
Daniel
D
Le Grange
D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000523:psychology*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D006801:Humans; D010045:Outpatients; D011613:Psychotherapy