Milkshakes medicine for anorexic teens

NEW YORK, April 4 (UPI) -- Parents are called on to feed their children high-calorie meals like milkshakes and macaroni and cheese in a therapy for anorexia nervosa, U.S. researchers say.

The therapy, known as behavioral family therapy, or the Maudsley Approach, calls on parents to supervise the eating habits of their anorexic child. The approach is being compared with a more established treatment known as Family Systems Therapy as part of an ongoing treatment study at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division and five other centers nationally.

Both are outpatient therapies for adolescents ages 12-18.

"Anorexia is a life-threatening condition. Treating it early is very important since it is during the teenage years that this disorder usually takes hold," Dr. Katherine Halmi, founder of the Eating Disorders Program at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Westchester Division and professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, said in a statement.

"Traditionally, patients with anorexia have been treated in a hospital setting or through one-on-one outpatient therapy. While inpatient treatment is still appropriate in acute cases, we have increasingly seen the value of family-oriented outpatient therapy for adolescents."

The current study is designed to compare two different therapeutic approaches that involve the family. One is a behavioral therapy initially focused on weight gain and the other examines various underlying issues in the family dynamic.