Milkshakes can Help To Regain Healthy Weight In Anorexic Teens

Have an anorexic teen? Try feeding him or her high-calorie meals like milkshakes and macaroni and cheese until they regain a healthy weight.

Known also as the Maudsley Approach, this treatment under the behavioural family therapy (BFT) approach is being compared with a more established treatment known as family systems therapy (FST) as part of an ongoing study for kids aged between 12 and 18, at the New York Presbyterian Hospital Westchester Division and five other centres in the US.

Anorexia Nervosa - Types Complications Causes Treatment FAQs
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder most commonly found among teenage girls. Anorexia nervosa is characterized by a very low body weight, generally defined as 15% below the Body Mass Index.

"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," said Katherine Halmi, founder of the Eating Disorders Program and professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College.

"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 BFT focussed on weight gain, and the other examines various underlying issues in the family.

Bulimia Nervosa - Incidence Types Causes Treament Effects FAQs
The term 'Bulimia' refers to episodes of uncontrolled excessive eating, known as "binges," followed by self-induced vomiting or purgation.

In the Maudsley Approach, named after the hospital in London where it was developed in the 1980s, anorexic teenagers attend therapy sessions together with their parents and siblings, said a Weill Cornell release.

In FST, families also attend regular therapy sessions, but discussions do not necessarily focus on eating. Instead, family members are free to broadly explore and challenge any problematic communication patterns or stressors within the family unit.

Cow's Milk-Retracing Footsteps In Time
Encyclopedia section of medindia explains about the consumption of cows milk, which dates back to about 6000 to 8000 B.C.

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Anorexia or Bulimia Screening Test
Do you binge-eat secretly most of the time? Or do you feel so guilty after eating that you badly want to self-induce vomiting and get the food out. Check out if you are a victim of eating disorder.