Parents Key to Eating Disorder Treatment
Success rate for teens doubles with family involvement

(HealthDay News) -- When parents of a teen with bulimia play an active role in the treatment, their teen is twice as likely to succeed in fighting the eating disorder, researchers have found.

"Families have often been seen as part of the problem, rather than part of the solution…so traditional treatment often excludes parents," Daniel le Grange, director of the University of Chicago's eating disorder's program, told HealthDay . "That's why this study is so important. It builds on work [that shows] no one cares or loves adolescents more than their parents."

"Parents' instinct is to take care of their kids, so why keep them at bay?" asked le Grange, who authored the study. "We need to channel their energies."

An estimated 1 percent to 2 percent of teens fit the bulimia nervosa diagnosis. Another 2 percent to 3 percent have symptoms of bulimia, but their symptoms don't quite match the diagnosis, putting them in a borderline category. Common symptoms of bulimia include gorging on food and then purging the food, often through vomiting.

The study involved 80 adolescents, 12 to 19 years old, all diagnosed with full-blown or partial bulimia. The teens were randomly assigned to one of two groups: One participated in family-based psychotherapy, and the other participated in more traditional supportive psychotherapy. Treatment involved 20 visits over six months.

"Individuals in the two groups received the same dose and duration of treatment, but the content of the treatment was different," le Grange said.

At the end of the six-month treatment, 18 percent of the supportive therapy group had stopped binging and purging, but twice as many teens -- 40 percent -- in the family therapy group had stopped. Six months later, 10 percent of those in supportive therapy still were not binging and purging, whereas 30 percent of those in family-based counseling still had their bulimia under control.

Results of the study were published in the Archives of General Psychiatry .

Andrea Vazzana, a clinical assistant professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the New York University Child Study Center, described the family-based therapy as "promising, mostly based on the good results they've had with patients with anorexia," another type of eating disorder. She told HealthDay that the treatment used in the study "follows the same model, [so] it makes sense that it would apply to individuals with bulimia."

The National Eating Disorders Association says that the most effective treatments for eating disorders couple medical treatment, nutritional guidance and some type of psychotherapy or psychological counseling. The psychological counseling focuses on the underlying problems that triggered the eating disorder in the first place, the association says.

Because eating disorders can be difficult to treat, the association advises parents to seek help from a professional who's experienced in their treatment.

On the Web

To learn more about eating disorders, visit the American Psychiatric Association online.

SOURCES: HealthDay News ; Daniel le Grange, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and director, Eating Disorders Program, University of Chicago; Andrea Vazzana, Ph.D., clinical assistant professor of child and adolescent psychiatry, New York University Child Study Center, New York City; September 2007, Archives of General Psychiatry ; September 2007, Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine ; National Eating Disorders Association (www.nationaleatingdisorders.org)
Author: Serena Gordon
Publication Date: Sept. 30, 2008
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