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Updated: Dec 11, 2025

A Treatment Package without Escape Extinction to Address Food Selectivity
Published on: August 21, 2015
Pervasive refusal syndrome or anorexia nervosa: a case report with a successful behavioural treatment
A Perrone1, S F Aruta1, G Crucitti2
1Regional Centre for Feeding Eating Disorders, Child Neurology and Psychiatry Unit, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, S. Orsola Malpighi Hospital, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Purpose:
Pervasive refusal syndrome (PRS) is a rare psychiatric disease that affects children. It was first described by Lask in 1991 (Arch Dis Child 66:866-869, 1991). Recently, Otasowie and Collaborators reported a systematic review about PRS. Despite this, PRS has not yet been classified in DSM-5 and ICD-11 and the lack of evidence-based treatment makes this syndrome a real challenge for clinicians. The aim of this paper is to present our experience through the description of a case report and its treatment.
Methods And Results:
The case reported is a girl aged 11 years that fits the clinical picture described in the literature of PRS. In previous reports, behavioural treatment was not used or appreciated; our case adds new knowledge regarding the PRS diagnosis and the successful behavioural treatment during hospitalization, which we describe in all its phases.
Conclusion:
PRS is a rare, life-threatening syndrome; it would be extremely important to have an official and evidence-based treatment guide.
Level Of Evidence:
Level V, case report.
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