Toward the Integration of Family Therapy and Family-Based Treatment for Eating Disorders

Maudsley family therapy (FT) and family-based treatment (FBT) are two seminal, related, evidence-based approaches for treating adolescents with eating disorders. Founded principally for the treatment of anorexia nervosa in London some four decades ago, FT formed the original basis from which FBT was developed in the late 1990s in the United States. This chapter provides a brief history of the development of each approach, including tracing how FBT derived from FT, some 25 years ago. The current differences between the two are minimal, and together, each treatment has evolved in response to growing knowledge and scientific evidence that informs the respective intervention. We highlight how the guiding principles of each are similar rather than opposing and use this foundation to discuss how a future conceptual integration of these two treatments can serve to inform and strengthen our global approach to caring for young people with restrictive eating disorders.