Eating Disorders: Maudsley Method

Maudsley Method

Welcome to Maudsley Parents. We are a volunteer organization of parents who have helped our children recover from anorexia and bulimia through the use of a family-based treatment known as the Maudsley approach, an evidence-based therapy for eating disorders. We invite you to explore our site to learn more about how families can help their kids with eating disorders. Research shows long term outcomes with family-based treatment are promisingThere are three phases involved in the Maudsley method, the treatment usually lasts one year and involves between 15-20 sessions. Daniel Le Grange, PhD and James Lock, MD, PhD describe the treatment as follows:"The Maudsley approach can mostly be construed as an intensive outpatient treatment where parents play an active and positive role in order to: Help restore their child’s weight to normal levels expected given their adolescent’s age and height; hand the control over eating back to the adolescent, and; encourage normal adolescent development through an in-depth discussion of these crucial developmental issues as they pertain to their child.More ‘traditional’ treatment of AN suggests that the clinician’s efforts should be individually based. Strict adherents to the perspective of only individual treatment will insist that the participation of parents, whatever the format, is at best unnecessary, but worse still interference in the recovery process. In fact, many proponents of this approach would consider ‘family problems’ as part of the etiology of the AN. No doubt, this view might contribute to parents feeling themselves to blame for their child’s illness. The Maudsley Approach opposes the notion that families are pathological or should be blamed for the development of AN. On the contrary, the Maudsley Approach considers the parents as a resource and essential in successful treatment for AN.