Clear Thinking in the Fight Against Anorexia

First published in Psychiatry Weekly, Volume 2, Issue 30, on August 6, 2007

There is no first-choice psychological treatment for anorexia nervosa (AN), according to the authors of a study in Annals of General Psychiatry, and existent drug treatments are ineffective. Researchers devised and tested a clinical intervention, designed to strengthen thinking skills, based on Cognitive Remediation Therapy (CRT). 4 patients with AN underwent 10 CRT sessions lasting 45 minutes each, and were evaluated at baseline and at endpoint with 5 set-shifting tests. 3 of 5 post-treatment set-shifting tests showed moderate to large improvement, and 2 showed a large improvement, suggesting that increased cognitive skills in AN patients might be applied in real life situations, thus aiding recovery.
http://www.annals-general-psychiatry.com/content/6/1/14

-LS