Family-Based Treatment (FBT) — sometimes called the Maudsley approach — is the most studied intervention for adolescent eating disorders. At PPG, it's a core program of our Center for Eating Disorder Recovery.
The three phases
- Phase 1 — Full parental control of eating. Parents take complete responsibility for nourishing their adolescent back to a healthy weight. The clinical team meets weekly with the family and consults closely with the pediatrician.
- Phase 2 — Returning age-appropriate control. As weight restores and the adolescent stabilizes, control of eating gradually returns to the adolescent in developmentally appropriate steps.
- Phase 3 — Adolescent issues. With the eating disorder no longer dominating, the work shifts to the normal developmental issues that adolescence brings — identity, autonomy, relationships, and the return of typical teen life.
Who FBT is for
FBT is most strongly evidence-based for adolescents (typically ages 12–18) with anorexia nervosa, and increasingly used for bulimia nervosa and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). It is most effective when a parent or caregiver is able to be the primary support at meals.
How specialties work together at PPG
FBT at PPG runs alongside our other clinical resources. While the family is in active treatment, siblings can get their own space in our family system work; parents can use individual sessions to process what carrying this is like; and any co-occurring concerns (anxiety, OCD, mood) get addressed in coordinated, parallel care — not handed off to outside providers.
