Department of Psychiatry, Division of Clinical Therapeutics, Columbia University Medical Center, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA.
Int J Eat Disord. 2012 May;45(4):615-21. doi: 10.1002/eat.20936. Epub 2011 May 3.
Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe mental illness with high rates of relapse and rehospitalization. New treatment approaches are needed. We aimed to evaluate the potential utility of addressing eating-related fear in the treatment of AN using psychotherapy techniques known to be effective in the treatment of anxiety disorders and obsessive compulsive disorder, namely exposure therapy and response prevention.
We developed a brief treatment intervention for AN (AN-EXRP) and evaluated its effects in an open series of nine individuals with AN towards the end of acute weight restoration. We focused on eating behavior as the primary outcome, as it is related both to anxiety and to longer term course.
Change in anxiety with AN-EXRP was associated with greater caloric intake.
These findings support the anxiety-centered model of AN and suggest the potential utility of further developing this treatment approach.
神经性厌食症（AN）是一种严重的精神疾病，其复发和再住院率很高。需要新的治疗方法。我们旨在评估使用已知对焦虑症和强迫症有效的心理治疗技术（即暴露疗法和反应预防）来解决与进食相关的恐惧在 AN 治疗中的潜在效用。
我们为 AN 开发了一种简短的治疗干预措施（AN-EXRP），并在急性体重恢复末期对九名 AN 患者进行了开放性系列评估。我们专注于进食行为作为主要结果，因为它与焦虑和更长期的病程都有关。
AN-EXRP 治疗的焦虑变化与更高的卡路里摄入量有关。
这些发现支持 AN 的焦虑为中心的模型，并表明进一步开发这种治疗方法的潜力。
