Small group living therapy for abnormal eating behavior

Simple obesity, anorexia nervosa, psychogenic anorexia and bulimia etc. can be comprehended by a concept of abnormal eating behavior. They are thought to occur because frustration produced in the patients' environment stimulates their immature personality, which in turn precipitates them to go on a diet or to eat too much, and they eventually lose self-control over eating behavior. So therapy should be conducted in order to establish a new corrected life style, especially corrected eating behavior. We performed small group living therapy with 12 patients of abnormal eating behaviour, including 4 cases of simple obesity, 4 cases of anorexia nervosa, 3 cases of psychogenic anorexia and 1 case of bulimia. These patients were divided into 3 groups, admitted to our hospital at the same time, and let to live a collective life according to a regular daily schedule. Diet therapy was conducted by different stages after the method of operant conditioning. Exercise therapy and pharmacotherapy were utilized as occasion demanded. When the patient's body weight reached constant levels, group fasting therapy was performed so as to recondition them to live a common social life. Eating behavior was remarkably corrected in 9 cases. Small group living therapy is considered useful for treating abnormal eating behaviours which are on the increase among various diseases.