[Need for control and anxiety of losing it--reflections on the treatment of anorexia nervosa].

In connection with the symptoms of anorexia nervosa, which are usually based on a fear of losing control over food intake, we describe a therapeutic approach with the following important aims: To reduce patient's fear of loss of control, to free parents from controlling the food intake of their daughter and to establish a framework that provides a good climate for effective family-oriented or individual psychotherapy or both. In patients with anorexia that began early, we recommend starting with family therapy. This can be followed by individual psychotherapy, which is in fact often requested by the patients themselves.