The assessment of certain key variables in family therapy treatment of adolescents provided the authors with insight into the typical constellation of 'anorexia families'. The families are usually under the influence of an ascetic achievement ideology, with concomitant anxiety about sensuality, frequently emanating from a dominating mother or grandmother. The drive increment at the start of puberty, or the need to become sexually and occupationally independent of the family at the end of puberty, pushes the daughter into anorexia mentalis. Therapeutic technique is discussed in detail.