[Eating disorder and the family--a review]

The importance of the family in eating disorders has been the subject of a great deal of speculation ever since anorexia nervosa was first described some 130 years ago. Given the importance of the family in child and adolescent development, it also has great bearing on how young people learn to deal with food. But the research is inconclusive as to the family's precise role in the development of an eating disorder. There is no support in the literature on which to base a comprehensive understanding of the family setting in which a member develops an eating disorder; this also applies to anorexia nervosa cases. When groups of families afflicted with different psychiatric disorders are compared, it seems that families in which bulimia nervosa occurs tend to be more dysfunctional than families afflicted with anorexia nervosa. It also seems that families afflicted with anorexia nervosa function better than families afflicted by other psychiatric disorders. In this article the research on family functioning in relation to anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa is reviewed and its relevance discussed.