Is the Maudsley Method Right for Your Family?

– by Irene Miller, LCSW, CASAC

If your son or daughter has been diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa, you may be overwhelmed by information about the wide variety of treatments available when now, more than ever, your priority is to keep your child healthy and safe during a vulnerable, dangerous time in his/her life.

The Maudsley Method incorporates the family into the patient’s treatment plan, focusing less on figuring out the reasons someone may be suffering from anorexia and more on restoring regular eating patterns and gaining weight because anorexia nervosa is often a chronic, severe disorder in which mortality rates can be high. In fact, in the worst cases, it has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric diagnosis, bar none. Maudsley sees the family as a system and assumes that, particularly for a child or adolescent, it’s not possible to treat the individual without integrating the entire family in order to prioritize the patient’s physical health in a moment of crisis.

Studies suggest that Maudsley works best for patients who are at 75% of their ideal body weight and have been sick for no more than 1-3 years, both important factors in the decision about whether or not this treatment may be the most effective one for you and your family. The Maudsley Method isn’t for everyone, but if you and your therapist and/or pediatrician and/or nutritionist think it might be a good fit for your daughter and your family, the data on short and long term recovery rates is encouraging.

How does it work?

With the Maudsley method, parents, with the assistance of siblings if applicable, are shown very carefully step by step, how to re-feed the patient and reestablish a family environment in which patients have to eat. The program is divided into three phases, and generally takes place over 12 months with 15-20 family counseling sessions.

Phase I: Weight Restoration

During phase I, parents assume all responsibility for feeding their child, ultimately deciding when, where, and what the child will eat. The goal is for the child or adolescent to begin to gain weight at a time when her brain and body are severely malnourished. Parents must be available around the clock to supervise meal and snack times and to ensure that the patient doesn’t purge or burn off calories by exercising.

During this time, your child may still be gripped by fears of gaining weight and plagued by negative self-talk and obsessive thoughts about food, eating, and weight gain. With coaching and therapy from a Maudsley trained therapist, parents learn to work with their son or daughter directly at meal times in ways that are non-judgmental, supportive, and loving, in spite of what are often very stressful times.

Phase II: Returning control over eating to the adolescent

Once your son or daughter has accepted that eating and weight gain are something that’s expected of him/her, parents can begin to slowly cede control to the child in order to relearn how to eat and feed him or herself in a healthy way. The continuing goal of this phase is the child or adolescent’s physical health.

The adolescent may still be having eating disordered thoughts, feelings, and issues with body image, but during this phase, the expectation is that he/she is starting to learn to deal with those feelings at the same time that she’s also becoming more comfortable with eating and gaining weight.

Phase III: Establishing healthy adolescent identity

During Phase III, the patient has shown that she can maintain her own weight, and outside restrictions and demands on her eating cease. Now the focus is on the patient and the family getting back on track and on the patient establishing age appropriate and developmentally appropriate relationships with friends and family that aren’t limited by and don’t revolve around the eating disorder.

What are the advantages of the Maudsley Method?

• Inpatient eating disorder clinics can be expensive, and the cost of a 2-3 month stay may be not be covered by insurance. In many but not all cases, Maudsley intervention at an early stage can prevent the need for higher levels of care.
• The data supporting long-term recovery rates is compelling. Within a year, 90% of patients were in recovery, and after five years, 90% of those who had had positive results were still recovered.
• It is an opportunity for families to learn more about how to support each other, communication is improved and families much less helpless in the process.

Let Metro Behavioral Health Associates help you determine if The Maudsley Method is the correct method to treat your Anorexia.

Call one of our friendly staff members to schedule an appointment today.