ABSTRACT
Family-based treatment (FBT) has emerged as the leading evidence-based form of treatment for adolescents with eating disorders. Although FBT is an outpatient treatment, its efficacy and ability to be disseminated have led to efforts to incorporate the principles of FBT into programs offering higher levels of care. However, although some programs do include families to a limited degree, factors such as length of stay, distance to the treatment setting, and program philosophy have traditionally limited the extent to which families are involved in some levels of treatment. Although the evidence base is fairly small, results suggest that FBT principles can successfully be incorporated into higher levels of care if programs adhere to the core FBT tenets. These include parental empowerment, taking an agnostic view of the illness, taking a non-authoritarian therapeutic stance in treatment, externalization of the illness, and a pragmatic focus on symptom reduction. This chapter reviews ways in which programs can stay true to FBT principles, thus improving continuity of care across levels of treatment.
