A nationally recognized authority on
eating disorders says that an intervention program aimed at families
of anorexic
patients offers promising treatment for a disease that currently
results in death in approximately 10 percent of all cases.
Professor of Psychiatry Walter H. Kaye, M.D., recently came to
San Diego from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine,
to head
UCSD’s Eating Disorders Program. Kaye’s career in the research and treatment of eating disorders
spans more than 25 years. Anorexia is characterized by reduced food
intake, the relentless pursuit of weight loss and body image distortion.
Kaye has initiated several programs, including a new intervention
treatment aimed at families of anorexic patients, known as the “Maudsley” approach. Kaye’s research has found that genes play a substantial role
in determining who is vulnerable to developing an eating disorder
and why people develop obsessions or exhibit certain personality
traits, such as perfectionism and anxiety. Such traits are usually
present in childhood and seem to put people at risk of developing
the disorder. “Societal pressure isn’t irrelevant; it may be the environmental
trigger that releases a person’s genetic risk,” Kaye
adds.
UCSD’s Eating Disorders Program offers the latest advances
in therapy. The Maudsley therapy is one example of a new type of
family treatment specifically developed for anorexia nervosa, which
teaches parents the skills necessary to be able to manage and support
a child at home. The program has also developed a unique, five-day, intensive
family treatment program, which is the first of its kind in
the country.
During the program, the parents and the adolescent with anorexia
nervosa are able to stay in a nearby residential hotel. The patient is given a comprehensive medical and psychological
evaluation, and the team of psychiatrists, therapists and a dietician
meets with
the parents and the child, to help facilitate an approach to fight
the disorder. The parents are coached on how to monitor their child’s
eating by addressing severe dieting, purging, over-exercise, and
other related problems of anorexia. Together, the family learns to
fight the illness, not the patient.  For more information contact:
858-228-7023.
— Debra Kain
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