There are five tenets of the family-based therapy (FBT) model that clinicians must master in order to successfully implement FBT into their patient's treatment plan. These tenets are as follows:

1. The therapist must approach the illness with an agnostic view of the its origin or cause.

2. The therapist should maintain a non-authoritarian stance during treatment and reinforce the parents' roles as the primary decision-making authorities.

3. Parents should feel empowered to guide their child throughout the process of recovery.

4. The eating disorder should be externalized so as to separate the illness from the patient.

5. The treatment plan and philosophy should be pragmatic, with an emphasis on immediate symptom reduction in order to prevent the eating disorder from exacerbating and becoming a chronic condition (if it has not already).