Eur Eat Disord Rev. 2025 Sep 3. doi: 10.1002/erv.70025. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Family therapy for anorexia nervosa (FT-AN) is the first-line recommended treatment for young people with anorexia nervosa. There is variability in treatment length across studies and evidence suggests treatment length and outcome are not necessarily linearly related. This makes it difficult to identify the optimum length of treatment in clinical practice. This study aimed to explore young people’s perspectives on the timing of discharge and how this relates to recovery.
METHOD: Twenty three young people (age 12-18) diagnosed with anorexia (or atypical anorexia) nervosa participated. All had completed FT-AN with or without adjunctive multi-family therapy. Semi-structured individual qualitative interviews were conducted. Recordings were transcribed verbatim and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.
RESULTS: Four inter-connected themes were generated; (1) who decides?, (2) knowing what’s coming, (3) things that need to be in place, (4) discharge is a necessary step towards recovery.
DISCUSSION: Young people said that remaining in treatment for longer than necessary may impede recovery. Establishing clear expectations about discharge and recovery, helping young people to commit to ongoing behaviour change, and building their support network were all described as important components in helping them to feel confident about discharge and to take ownership of continuing the recovery journey post-discharge.
PMID:40898915 | DOI:10.1002/erv.70025
