The aim of this study was to compare two forms of outpatient treatment, educational behavioural treatment and cognitive analytical therapy for adult anorexia nervosa. Thirty patients were randomly allocated to the two treatments. At one year, the group had gained 6.8 kg, 19/30 (63%) had a good or intermediate recovery in terms of nutritional outcome. The group given cognitive analytical treatment reported significantly greater subjective improvement but there were no differences in other outcome parameters. In conclusion outpatient treatment of adult onset anorexia nervosa leads to an improvement in two thirds of cases. Larger studies will be needed to determine the most effective form of treatment in this group.