The aim of this article is to summarise what is known about the management of eating disorders. I introduce the findings from the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) guideline which was developed by a committee of experts and stakeholders who reviewed the literature. However I will not merely summarise that document which is freely available and accessible from the internet but I propose to discuss some of the theoretical and empirical evidence for future directions for research and development and to highlight questions and ideas that the NICE guidelines failed to address.