Background. Anorexia nervosa is a complex and highly variable disorder. Preventing patients from becoming resistant to treatments is fundamental since an important percentage develops a severe and enduring disorder; and because relapse is highly associated with psychiatric comorbidity, poor prognosis, and serious medical consequences due to malnutrition. Contemporary treatments for anorexia nervosa support the benefits of involving the family in treatment, and although the gold standard of family psychotherapy offers an excellent option for anorexia nervosa, that intervention is aimed at early stages, and therapeutic options for later stages of the disorder are reduced and not clearly established. Objective. Expose the therapeutic effect of the protocol for severe and enduring cases of anorexia nervosa at relapse, used at the Clinic of Eating Behavior of the National Institute of Psychiatry, Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz, whose theoretical foundation is systemic therapy. Method. To develop this case report, we carried out an in-depth review of the clinical records, and of the clinic attendance records of the case presented here. CARE clinical case report guidelines format were used. Results. The case shows how a young woman, diagnosed with anorexia nervosa with clinical signs of severe and enduring anorexia nervosa (SE-AN), was able to achieve symptomatic remission after her parents, but not her, were administered the protocol for SE-AN. Discussion and conclusion. Here we present an emblematic case showing the importance of getting the parents involved in the treatment of anorexia nervosa.

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Background: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a complex eating disorder where involvement of family plays a central role in first line treatment in adolescents, but which is not so for adults where poor response to treatment is frequent. Given the reluctance of some patients to receive treatment, we set out to explore the hypothesis that certain family dynamics may be involved in the maintenance of the disorder. Methods: We aimed to understand what is underlying in the cases of patients who present clinical improvement with their parents, but not the ones who received a parent-focused psychotherapeutic intervention. We conducted a mixed methods study. On the one hand we performed a case series of 14 patients who dropped out of treatment while their parents actively attended the intervention, and on the other hand, we followed the evolution of the parents of those patients reluctant to continue treatment, through non-participant observation. Results: We present preliminary evidence where we found the parent-focused psychotherapeutic intervention was able to elicit a reflective function of the parents. We also observed that the intervention modified certain family dynamics that could be related to maintaining factors of the disorder. In patients, we found that in parallel to the assistance of their parents to psychotherapeutic treatment, and even when they were receiving no intervention, they showed significant clinical improvement of symptomatology and global functioning; we observed 9 of 14 of them who voluntarily decided to return to pharmacological treatment. Conclusions: This parent-focused intervention elicited changes in reflective functioning of participant parents; the intervention produced favorable changes in family dynamics, which we believe is probably related to improvement of global functioning, symptomatology, and insight of patients.

Antecedentes: La anorexia nervosa es un padecimiento de la conducta alimentaria en el que se ha observado que la familia desempeña un papel relevante, ya que una grave disfunción familiar puede ser un factor de riesgo y mantener la sintomatología. La participación de la familia en el tratamiento incrementa la posibilidad de éxito. La presente investigación pretende contribuir con un análisis de la forma en la que los propios sujetos que padecen anorexia nervosa y sus padres, conviven con el padecimiento y narran su historia. Material y métodos: Se llevó a cabo un estudio cualitativo y un análisis de narrativa por ejes temáticos de acuerdo al modelo de Kolher Riessman. Los informantes se eligieron de acuerdo a un muestreo teórico no probabilístico y se realizaron entrevistas a profundidad focalizadas. Se eligió a una familia para este reporte. Resultados: La familia analizada estuvo conformada por tres miembros: la madre, el padre y la hija con anorexia nervosa, presentándose conductas excesivamente rígidas que oscilan entre el control y la impulsividad. La paciente funciona como confidente de la madre, en tanto que el padre se muestra rígido y exigente. El tratamiento duró tres años aproximadamente en impasse ya que la paciente no mostró ninguna evolución. Discusión: En los cuatro momentos de la evolución del padecimiento se observó que cada uno de los participantes tenía diferentes puntos de vista. En la bibliografía se menciona la relación simbiótica de la hija con la madre y la relación periférica establecida con el padre, en la información obtenida en este caso se confirma esa estructura. Conclusiones: Estos hallazgos son un primer paso para conocer las experiencias de cada uno de los integrantes de la familia durante el inicio de la enfermedad, el tratamiento, la recaída y las expectativas que se tienen en cuanto a la remisión del padecimiento.

(1) Background: Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder (ED) where up to 30% of individuals remain unresponsive to treatments, whether they partially respond, or do respond and later relapse. It has been broadly reported how presenting maladaptive family functioning and communication style contributes to treatment drop-out, poor treatment compliance, and poor long-term outcomes. We studied the mother and father of a patient with AN, binge-purge subtype (according to DSM-IV TR) who achieved remission after her parents but not her attended an intervention through a psychotherapy group for parents (PGP). (2) Methods: We previously reported this patient’s case report, and now, through an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach, we aimed to explore the understanding and meanings ascribed by the mother and father to their experience at the PGP and to their daughter’s clinical and functional improvement. (3) Results: We identified two main stages along the process: one related to the presence of maintaining factors of their daughter’s disorder, and the other related to the emergence of a reflective function and to the implementation of behavioral, emotional and cognitive changes. (4) Conclusions: The interview revealed both parents’ experience at the PGP promoted a change process, where they were able to modify their previous style of communication and functioning, and to identify them as a contributors to maintain their daughter’s disorder. Reflective function (RF) emerged in the mother and father throughout the psychotherapeutic process. Both parents also revealed some elements that were intergenerationally transmitted, that affected three generations and contributed to maintaining the ED. We observed the multilevel open-group structure of the PGP, enhancing the mother’s and father’s change process.