The treatment of eating disorders requires multidisciplinary collaboration and can be carried out at different levels of care and health care resources (See Chapter 8, “Interventions at the different levels of care”).

The objectives of eating disorder treatments are:

1. To restore or normalise patient weight and nutritional state to healthy levels in the case of AN (See question 9.1. of this chapter).
   Nutritional support can range from a base diet, if the patient presents normonutrition, or specific diet-therapy (oral diet) if there is an associated pathology, to the administration of artificial nutrition (enteral oral or parenteral intravenous) if there is severe energetic-protein malnutrition.
   In the outpatient, standard refeeding includes following a normal diet. In day patient management, treatment is more intensive and prolonged than outpatient treatment. When outpatient treatment or day patient treatment is insufficient, or if the patient presents an acute problem, inpatient treatment is indicated.
2. To treat physical complications. This CPG does not include the specific treatment for all potential physical complications (See Chapter 4 “Definition and Classification of Eating Disorders”).
3. To provide education on healthy, nutritious eating habits. Additionally, general recommendations on the principles of a balanced diet with a variety and frequency of foods, or more specific recommendations based on the type of eating disorder, can be delivered. The aim of nutritional education is to guide the patient and his/her family in terms of the behaviours that should be adopted and to increase the patient’s motivation to cooperate and participate in treatment (See Question 9.2. of this chapter).
4. To modify/improve prior or acquired dysfunctions due to eating disorders (thoughts, attitudes, inadequate behaviour, etc. ^197-199), as well as to increase weight, reduce/eliminate binge-eating and purging, depression, amongst other relevant clinical variables. To this end there are several different treatments available: – Psychological therapies (see questions 9.3.-9.8. of this chapter). – Pharmacological treatments (see questions 9.9.-9.15. of this chapter). – Combined interventions (see question 9.16. of this chapter). The therapeutic contract includes ITP (see chapter 8, “Interventions at the different levels of care”) and is signed by the patient and the multidisciplinary team of health care professionals involved in the care. This contract ensures that the patient has been informed and that he/she has accepted the ITP.
5. To treat associated disorders (comorbidities), both psychiatric (including mood disturbances, low self-esteem, behaviour, etc.) and physical (diabetes mellitus, etc) (see questions 9.17 and 9.18 of this chapter).
6. To obtain family support for the patient and provide counselling and therapy when necessary (see chapter 7, “Diagnosis” and question 9.6. in the section “Family therapy”).
7. To prevent relapse. This includes addressing and preventing situations that may favour recurrences and planning strategies to tackle them. Amongst the aspects that should be managed, body weight variations, patient requests for diets and drugs, management of proper eating habits, engagement in purging behaviour, performance of excessive exercise, management of appropriate ponderal-statural and psychomotor development, detection of any emotional imbalance or environmental pressure and family management^{200, 201}.
8. To treat chronic eating disorder cases, as well as the management of eating disorders in special situations such as pregnancy and delivery, which are described at the end of this chapter (see questions 9.19 and 9.20 of this chapter, respectively).