Day hospital (DH) treatments for eating disorders (EDs) provide intensive daily care and allow patients to maintain and test their social relations and coping skills at home and outside. Although widespread, their description is lacking. This review compares the different types of DH described in the literature and presents our DH experience in Turin, Italy. We searched Psychinfo and Pubmed with the following keywords: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, EDs, DH, day treatment and partial hospitalisation. We found and reviewed the DH programmes of eleven specialised centres, which have some shared features but also many differences, suggesting that DH treatments are still largely experimental. Briefly, the shared elements are: biopsychosocial model as reference frame; cognitive-behavioural model or techniques; behavioural contract; patients' selection; body image therapy; involvement of family; weight normalisation/weight gain and modification/normalisation of eating behaviour as objectives. Nonetheless, shared opinions concerning inclusion criteria are lacking; the duration of DH treatment is surprisingly different among centres (from 3 to 39 weeks); the approach to eating and compensation behaviours ranges from control to autonomy; followup and psychometric assessment can be either performed or not; psychological and behavioural objectives can be different. This review suggests the existence of two different DH models: the first has a shorter duration and is mainly symptom-focused; the second is more individual-focused, has a longer duration and is focused on patients' relational skills, psychodynamic understanding of symptoms and more gradual changes in body weight. Further investigation is required to make DH treatment programmes measurable and comparable.

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Several anthropological studies conducted in recent years among different Native American cultures have revealed a series of common features in ontological premises and cosmological frameworks. These features seem to be shared by most of the Native peoples in both North and South America. They include: a system of relationships between humans and non-human beings based on an ontology "of persons" as contrasted to the ontology "of things" typical of the Western attitude towards Nature; a structure of the cosmos made by superposed layers, which express the idea of a reality represented as comprising hidden dimensions and invisible domains; and the key role played by ecstatic practitioners in establishing relationships with and acquiring knowledge from these multiple dimensions of the universe. Here, the idea is suggested that these elements could be profitably utilized to interpret the meaning of Paleolithic cave art, not simply implying a series of typological likenesses, but suggesting the possibility of historic (pre-historic) links. It should be remembered that the main settlement of the Americas occurred in a period (from 30,000-20,000 years B.P.) which is contemporaneous with the creation of the masterworks in the caves of France and Spain.