Compulsory treatment in anorexia nervosa
Year: 2009
Type: article
Abstract: Summary Anorexia nervosa is a potentially fatal disorder with low insight unto the consequences of persisting lack of food intake. Hence, it may need sometimes involuntary hospitalisation to avoid severe medical complications and death. The author reviewed international literature focusing on compulsory treatment in anorexia nervosa and compared it to the available epidemiological evidence in the Veneto region, north-eastern Italy. He found the compulsory treatment rate for anorexia nervosa in the Veneto region (less than 4%) to be considerably lower than the figures reported from the United Kingdom (between 16 and 30%), Australia (about 30%), and Iowa (USA) (more than 15%). The author attributes the discrepancy to differences in the laws regulating compulsory treatment, which in Italy allow the patient to be hospitalised in a psychiatric unit only, whereas in other countries, general hospital management or specific anorexia nervosa units for multidisciplinary treatment are available.
Author: Paolo Santonastaso
Language: Italian
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2205183774