Intensive Family-Based Therapy During an Acute Medical Admission for Anorexia Nervosa: A Case Report

Family-based therapy (FBT) is the evidence-based treatment of choice for anorexia nervosa (AN) in adolescents, with numerous studies providing support for its efficacy in the outpatient realm. This case report describes the application of a brief FBT intervention during an inpatient medical admission for an adolescent presenting with medical instability secondary to new onset AN. The intensive, four-session FBT-guided intervention included (a) psychoeducation and illness externalization, (b) parent skills training, (c) meal coaching, and (d) behavioral contracting. Self-report assessment and anthropometric data collected at pre-, post-, and 5 months following the intervention suggest increase in body mass index (BMI) and percent ideal body weight, increased parental understanding of AN and parental self-efficacy in managing the illness, decreased parent emotional burden of the illness, and decreases in overall adolescent Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) scores. This case report provides preliminary evidence for the acceptability and effectiveness of a brief FBT-based intervention during medical stabilization for adolescents with AN and their families before proceeding to outpatient FBT.