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This paper describes the psychiatric care of anorexic patients whose health is so impaired that they require medical hospitalization. Firstly, this paper puts the preliminary interview into perspective through a brief historical review, which reveals the difficulties (namely ambivalence and defiance) the burgeoning therapeutic process may encounter. This paper then discusses a few key points about treatment while stressing the importance of the multi-disciplinary (or multi-dimensional) approach, which, according to the authors, must include a thorough systemic approach in spite of the tension this may cause in current practices. This calls for differentiating correlative plans and fostering tolerance of complex frustrations. This paper concludes with a clinical vignette in order to illustrate the problems specific to this type of approach.