During the course of Spring Break, I spent a lot of my free time asking my friends who have struggled with eating disorders about their experience with treatment. I also spent time exploring the dark side of pro-eating disorder websites.
While I was asking my questions, one thing became apparent: inpatient therapy doesn't always work longterm. I'm part of an eating disorder recovery group on Facebook which has almost 1,000 members. Granted, asking people on the internet isn't the greatest way to get data, but I figured it was a good way to gauge general ideas. Rather than posting a poll on the page, I messaged 20 members individually. I don't know any of them personally so it wasn't biased in whom I chose. All too often, patients struggling with Anorexia Nervosa get sent to treatment centers (I will be touring a few in April) in order to rapidly gain weight. While this is often a life-saving method in order to force the patient to rapidly gain weight, inpatient therapy has a high relapse rate. What I found in my questioning was that especially those who were forced into a treatment center (typically underage patients) weren't ready to accept the weight gain, and immediately went back to restricting once discharged. One thing was made clear though: patients made some of their best friendships in inpatient therapy.
In November I lost a friend to suicide. She struggled with Anorexia Nervosa for about half a decade. She had been admitted to inpatient therapy multiple times, including once time willingly because she thought she was ready. Ultimately she ended up relapsing every time, each worst than the last. She is a prime example for me about different mental states prior to attending inpatient therapy. This one's for you.
I also went to see my own psychiatrist, whose name I will leave anonymous for my own privacy, and asked him the same questions I ask other doctors. I asked: Do you treat eating disorders? The answer was yes. How do you treat them? The answer was with mediation. As a psychiatrist, a big part of the job is prescribing drugs. If he feels the patient is doing well enough on the drugs to talk about the problem, he refers them to a clinical psychologist to further their treatment program. How successful has your method to treatment been? The answer was that he often gets relapses. The medication stops working, the patient stops following their treatment program, or the patient hasn't fully accepted their disorder. It was an interesting conversation, mainly about compliance. It is quite interesting how much our mind controls us. If we aren't ready for something, it's hard to force yourself to. Once we decide against something, our minds tend to be quite stubborn. I know this especially in myself.
Next stop: more doctors!
Thanks for reading,
Sylvia
