Inpatient Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa: Clinical Practice Models

Lee, Young Ho

Abstract

The treatment consensus of anorexia nervosa in the last century was to remove the patient from her family and home surroundings. A great range of treatment from prescribing hormonal extracts to prefrontal leucotomy has been tried. Although in former decades many quite different forms of treatment have been described and advocated for anorexia nervosa, there is today consensus concerning the overall management of the disorder. But there still remains a widespread clinical opinion that inpatient treatment is necessary for some as a means of reliably increasing weight. Over the last hundred years the management of anorexia nervosa has changed. Treatment has shifted from medical wards, through to psychiatric wards and now, following the trends in all of medicine, towards community care in Western society. In Korea, case reports of anorexia nervosa and related articles have been published since the late seventies. Recently several epidemiological studies and clinical reports suggested increasing rate of eating disorders including anorexia nervosa in Korea. However, systematic approaches for these patients have not been tried in Korea. The author introduces the treatment model for inpatients with anorexia nervosa of Johns Hopkin's Hospital, Maudsley Hospital, and St. John's Mercy Medical Center. The author also introduces treatment experience with anorexic inpatient at Seoul Paik Hospital.