Perhaps the study should say it is effective in short term amelioration of symptoms of anorexia--weight loss, but unless folks are going to take it the rest of their lives with the attendant serious side effects of doing so, I don't think one can really call it anything more than palliative care. A person with anorexia nervosa has to address the causes of their problems eating to recover from it. Just putting on pounds and then losing them again may be more dangerous than no treatment at all. Forced feeding used to (may still be) used on people with anorexia nervosa, it is not an effective treatment without addressing the causes either.

100 lbs.a year ought to make anyone with body image problems feel so much better! WTF would anyone do this to a person? set them up for diabetes and unbelievable out of control weight gain. I guess patients can be glad Lilly has the diabetes pen!

I'm surprised they didn't think of this before (EYE-ROLL)

I met a really nice woman when I was in the mental hospital almost 4 years ago. It was very sad and surprising to hear that she had died 6 months after I met her, and the cause was diagnosed as "probably anorexia." She was on multiple psych meds. I don't know what else to write about this. I am just disgusted at what those treatements did to her.

Anorectics suffer tremendous abuse at the hands of their "helpers". I've seen people stripped naked in a rubber room with no mattress "until you eat." I wouldn't treat a dog that way. And I sure in hell would starve to death before I'd cave in to that kind of abuse.

I know starvation itself does not foster clear thinking (cf. The Golden Cage). But I would wonder what KIND of weight gain we're talking here. Does this drug cause you to eat or does it screw up your metabolism or does it do both?

Either way, anorexia is a condition characterized by serious control issues, often caused by incest and sexual abuse. To apply force to change surface behaviours to someone with those issues is a form of mental rape. It's a wonder the suicide rate isn't higher amongst anorectics, really, given the "treatment" modalities common.