Q: Can anorexia be treated with applied behavior analysis?
A: Over the years, I successfully worked with several anorexia cases. There is no single behavioral intervention. One must analyze the contingencies specific to each case. Recent work on other reactive patterns suggests it may be possible to use a key reinforcer, distancing, to shape other behaviors in what we call a nonlinear topical intervention. But, I have found that long-term success often requires a systemic intervention (see this link). The goals of such an approach often do not even specify the anorexic pattern. At times, the problem will resolve itself without direct intervention if the systemic variables are addressed.