The Current Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa

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Abstract
Patients with anorexia nervosa may minimize their symptoms with the result that doctors often fail to appreciate the distress they experience. The drastic avoidance of food is passed off euphemistically as ‘dieting’, and in later stages of the illness the patient's suffering is increased by depression, loss of concentration and insomnia. Much misery is also endured by other members of the family who observe with dread the young girl's progressive wasting and appear overwhelmed by feelings of helplessness. The illness usually runs a prolonged course even when the outcome is eventually favourable. An uncertain but sizeable proportion of patients enter a chronic phase with persistent preoccupations about food, uncontrollable overeating, self-induced vomiting, and even more severe depression (bulimia nervosa). Anorexia nervosa is therefore an illness which exacts a high toll in terms of human suffering. For this reason and in view of an increased incidence of the illness (Kendellet al,1973; Crispet al,1976), it is desirable to improve methods of treatment and apply those currently available with the utmost skill.