Editorial: Does multi-family day treatment hit the spot that other treatments cannot reach? Ulrike Schmidt and Eia Asen Anorexia nervosa remains a puzzling and frightening illness with a high burden on carers. The important role parents and other carers play in supporting people suffering from this devastating condition is evidenced by a coherent body of research. This shows that in adolescents and adults with anorexia nervosa, interventions involving the family can be effective (Eisler, this issue; Treasure, this issue). These findings challenge the stance traditionally held by many service providers who have tried to work mainly – or exclusively – with the individual concerned while keeping their families sidelined. In the UK, the recent NICE (National Institute of Clinical Excellence) guideline for eating disorders (NCCMH, 2004) has highlighted the importance of the family in the treatment of anorexia nervosa by making the following recommendations: 1 It is good practice for families of patients of all ages to be involved in assessment and treatment, and to be kept informed about risks and prognosis. 2 For adolescents with anorexia nervosa family interventions are the treatment of choice. Another recommendation made by the NICE guideline is also important in this context. Inpatient treatment for anorexia nervosa should be reserved for a small minority of patients, namely those where all other treatment options have been exhausted or where there is an exceptionally high risk to the sufferer’s physical health. This limited indication is due to increasing concerns about the potential for iatrogenic damage to patients during inpatient treatment and the high relapse rates afterwards. Treat- ments involving the family, especially those that are fairly intensive such as multi-family day treatment, may be well placed to provide a safe and effective alternative to inpatient care for many sufferers. Salvador Minuchin and his team have to be credited with introducing formal family therapy for the treatment of anorexia nervosa (Minuchin et al., 1978). The direct and very concrete structural approach focused on the observable family interactions around food, centrally involving the parents in helping their teenage children to eat. The ‘enactments’ during highly intense ‘lunchtime sessions’ dramatized not only the eating r The Association for Family Therapy 2005. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. Journal of Family Therapy (2005) 27: 101–103 0163-4445 (print); 1467-6427 (online) r 2005 The Association for Family Therapy and Systemic Practice