Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa in Children and Adolescents: An Integrated Family Based and Metacognitive Approach

The study is an evaluation of a new approach to treating Anorexia Nervosa (F.50.0 and F 50.1) called Family-based and Metacognitive therapy. The treatment integrates both family-based work approach, where the parents learn to be in control of the meal situation and communicate better with their child. The metacognitive treatment approach, is targeting the child to work with its problems with emotional regulation and self-esteem issues, but also their attitudes to body and weight. Our aim is to both address what the overall effect of the treatment will be, but also to test if an active follow-up after discharge will lead to reduced relapse rates in the 12 months after treatment. We will apply the same approach to all included patients (A-B design), but the patients and their parents will be allocated to one of two different conditions for follow-up. The active follow-up involves receiving 3 sessions of metacognitive therapy, whereas the other group gets ordinary follow-up, with no sessions of MCT. All patients are assessed at baseline, pre-treatment, post-treatment, and by 6 and 12 months follow-up. The purpose of the design is to evaluate if the rate of relapse during the first year after discharge can be reduced

Inclusion criteria

• Primary diagnosis of F 50.0 and F 50.1

Exclusion criteria

• Psychotic symptoms
• Severe somatic illness
• Mental retardation or developmental disorder
• Bipolar disorder
• Extreme self-mutilation or acute suicidal risks
• Does not speak or understand Norwegian