A new follow-up study shows that the so called Mandometer method for treating patients with eating disorders is effective. The method was developed at Karolinska Institutet and is today used in clinical treatment worldwide.

The study is published in the American Psychological Associations' journal Behavioral Neuroscience and was based on information from 1428 patients with anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders. Patients in the study were treated between 1993 and 2011 at six private clinics in Sweden, Holland, the United States and Australia. The results show that within 12.5 months on average 75% of all patients were free of symptoms, only 10% of patients relapsed over 5 years, and no patients died.

The Mandometer method means that patients re-learn normal eating and satiety patters using a feedback device developed called the Mandometer. Once patients normalize eating patterns they no longer feel rewarded for eating less or purging. Psychiatric symptoms begin to lessen and subsequently cease. Patients can then return to a normal social and work life.

"This follow-up on 18 years of work show that treatment on a neurobiological base is effective", says Per Södersten, professor of behavioural neuroendocrinology at Karolinska Institutet's Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, and head of research at Mando Group AB, the company running the Mandometer clinics.

The leading researchers of the current study are part-owners of the Mando Group. Treatment of the patients included in the study was supported by the Stockholm County Council, Region Västra Götaland, the County Council of Värmland, and several insurance companies.

Publication

Effective treatment of eating disorders: Results at multiple sites.

Bergh C, Callmar M, Danemar S, Hölcke M, Isberg S, Leon M, et al

Behav. Neurosci. 2013 Dec;127(6):878-89