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Updated: Feb 20, 2026

A Treatment Package without Escape Extinction to Address Food Selectivity
Published on: August 21, 2015
Intensive family exposure-based cognitive-behavioral treatment for adolescents with anorexia nervosa
Marina Iniesta Sepúlveda1, Joshua M Nadeau, Megan K Whelan
1Catholic University of Murcia.
Background:
Anorexia nervosa exhibits high comorbidity rates and shared features with anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Anxiety-based etiological models have proposed that fear of eating-related stimuli is the central mechanism around which avoidance of food and food-related rituals are performed. Building on this approach, exposure-based interventions have demonstrated promising results. Limited evidence in adolescents encourages the evaluation of exposure approaches in this population.
Method:
The current study presents a preliminary evaluation, in eight adolescents with anorexia nervosa, of an exposure-based CBT featuring an intensive format and parental involvement.
Results:
significant improvements in physical and psychological outcomes were observed.
Conclusions:
this case series provides preliminary support for the efficacy of intensive family exposure-based CBT for treating adolescents with severe anorexia nervosa.
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