The Mandometer® Treatment

What is the Mandometer® Method?

The Mandometer® Method treats eating disorders by teaching patients how to eat and recognize hunger and satiety with the help of a small computer that receives information from a small scale beneath your plate of food. The Mandometer® system allows the patient to see a rate of eating displayed on the screen that describes the rate at which normal individuals eat that amount of food and feel satiety as they eat. At the same time, the patient’s own eating speed and perception of satiety is shown on the screen. The patient then gradually learns to model its disordered pattern of eating to the normal pattern of eating. 

 

In addition to normalizing eating behavior, the patient is kept warm to avoid excessive exercise to generate warmth and to decrease anxiety after meals. There is a program to keep the patient’s educational studies current, and there is a program to foster self confidence. The treatment is carried out without the use of psychoactive drugs. 

 

All patients have a personal case manager
who takes care of them throughout the whole treatment. During the treatment, the patient meets with the same physician, teacher, dietician and nurse. After a thorough eating evaluation carried out by a senior case manager and a physician, an individual treatment plan is written with the patient. The aim of the eating evaluation is to determine a diagnosis, the degree of severity, and to exclude diagnoses unrelated to eating disorders. The remission criteria and the criteria for partial remission are explained thoroughly to the patient and their family. Blood tests are taken and a thorough physical examination is made. We then determine with the patient if hospitalization in our 24-hour care department is needed to stabilize their physiological status to avoid more serious and immediate consequences of the disorder. An individualized treatment plan that includes a meal plan, short-term and long-term goals, a body weight plan, as well as a plan for sleep, rest and physical activity are developed.  

 

Each patient decides what their short-term and long-term goals will be, together with their case manager. The patients are weighed every week but are not informed about their weight. Every sixth week, the eating behaviour, psychological symptoms and quality of life measures are assessed for each patient.

Possible anti-depressive drugs are decreased gradually to be completely withdrawn during the two first months of treatment.

 

How many people have been treated successfully with the Mandometer® Method?

Over 500 persons have been treated to remission at our clinics.

 

At present, approximately 160 patients are being treated in Stockholm and a total of 90 individuals are waiting for treatment. 

 

Studies with our Swedish patients have shown that 90% of those who come into remission are still free of symptoms after five years and the 10% who have relapsed have significantly less serious problems than they had before the Mandometer® treatment. They are relatively easy to take into remission again; only 6% of our anorexic patients have developed bulimia, while more than 50% develop bulimia in traditional care.

 

When is an anorexic or a bulimic patient regarded as cured of her/his illness?

The following criteria must be fulfilled for a person to be considered to have reached full remission, cured, of anorexia, bulimia or unspecified eating disorder:

  • Normal eating behaviour and perception of satiety
  • Normal weight
  • Normal blood values
  • Normal psychiatric status 
  • The patient shall have returned to school or work and normal leisure activities
  • Food and weight are no longer a problem in any way
  • For bulimia nervosa: no binge-eating or vomiting since at least three months

 

75% of the patients who start Mandometer® treatment reach full remission. We also measure partial remission, when patients fulfil at least five of seven remission criteria. Treatment continues until full remission has been achieved.

 

 

How do you monitor the long-term effect after remission?

For five years after remission, the patient’s health status is monitored by a special case manager. We measure eating behaviour, physical activity, somatic status, psychiatric status and quality of life at month 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48 and 60 after remission has been reached.


The Mandometer® Clinics offer evidence-based treatment for eating disorders

Results of the treatment have been published in the leading peer-reviewed scientific and medical journals. The results that have been published are:

  1. 75% of the patients go into full remission; they are free from all symptoms of an eating disorder
     
  2. 90% of those individuals who go into remission do not relapse over the next five years

This result is extraordinary compared to other published results. Indeed, many treatment centres for eating disorders do not even record the efficacy of their treatment. The Mandometer® Clinics have a strong basis in research and monitor the efficacy of their treatments on a continuing basis. In addition, all patients are monitored for five years after remission to be sure that the treatment is truly effective in the long term. We also use the data that we continue to collect to improve the treatment for patients with eating disorders.

 

Some of the most important features of our treatment method are:
  • We keep you warm in order to help you feel better. Hyperactivity decreases and body temperature increases by the patient’s resting in warmness. At the same time anxiety and compensation behaviours (activity, vomiting, laxative use) decrease or stop.
  • The disordered pattern of eating that is characterized by an altered perception of hunger and satiety are normalized with the help of Mandometer® 
    - a medical device that teaches you how to eat normally.
  • The serious emotional consequences of the illness are corrected through motivation conversations to develop healthy goals, along with emotional support and a reward system that forms the key elements of our treatment. 
  • We make sure that your self-esteem increases, along with maintaining your education to allow you to transition back to a normal life when you have recovered from your eating disorder.