Recent Developments in Family Therapy Research Specific to France

In this chapter, we propose to retrace the trajectory that led the authors’ clinical teams to develop clinical research projects on the contributions of family therapy in the treatment of anorexia nervosa among adolescents and young adults, and the advantages of this approach. In the first part, the context that led to the first trial deployed in France (the THERAFAM randomized controlled trial) will be described, the way in which the research proceeded, and the results of this initial work. In the second part, the chapter will explain how, in an international context advocating the development of multifamily therapy, and in the light of the results of our first study, a second research project, which is currently underway (the THERAFAMBEST randomized controlled trial), was designed. The development of the user manuals for the two therapies, systemic family therapy and multifamily therapy, will be described in turn and how the program is still underway despite the difficulties that the teams have had to face.