The Maudsley model of anorexia nervosa treatment for adolescents and young adults (MANTRa): a study protocol for a multi-center cohort study

BACKGROUND: The treatment of anorexia nervosa (AN) is often challenging due to medical complications as well as high relapse and mortality rates. Studies about effective treatment options for people with AN are particularly scarce in the adolescent population. This paper is a study protocol for a multi-center cohort study assessing the feasibility, acceptability and efficacy of a new, manualized treatment program, the “Maudsley Model of Anorexia Nervosa Treatment for Adolescents and Young Adults” (MANTRa) compared to psychotherapeutic treatment as usual (TAU). METHODS/DESIGN: One hundred patients between 13 and 21 years who meet the inclusion criteria will receive 24 to 34 individual weekly MANTRa therapy sessions or weekly TAU sessions. Primary outcome variables will be BMI and eating disorder psychopathology 12 months after baseline. Further changes in central coherence, cognitive flexibility, emotion recognition, comorbid psychopathology (e.g. depression, obsessive-compulsive and anxiety disorders, non-suicidal self-injury), personality factors and therapeutic alliance will be assessed. DISCUSSION: This multi-center study will examine the utility of the treatment program MANTRa for adolescents with AN and, therefore enhances the current knowledge about potential treatments for this patient group. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03535714. Registered: 24/05/2018 (retrospectively registered, still recruiting). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40337-021-00387-8.