Post 6

Hello
So far I've been focusing on the doctor side of recovery. Today I spoke to a receptionist at the Flagstaff hospital and I asked about how they treat eating disorders. She told me that the psychiatric unit is not necessarily a place to recover but rather a place to get healthy enough to be released. Patients are admitted when for example they pass out in a public place or are concerned about an abnormal heart rate. Patients are often tube fed and once they're stable, they're released.

Today I wanted to talk about the patient side of recovery. I believe it is just as important to ask recovered individuals their experience as it is to talk to doctors. I reached out to some of my friends from the myproana website (a website dedicated to sufferers) and asked their experience in recovery.

The first person I asked is an 18 year old girl.
Here are the questions:
Have you gone through a recovery program? Answer: yes
What kind? Answer: I did inpatient therapy and I'm currently on medications to stabilize my mood.
What was your experience with inpatient therapy: Answer: it was very emotional. I made lots of friends but the worst part was coming to terms with the weight gain.
Have you had any relapse episodes? Answer: multiple. I'm in one right now.

The next I asked was Tori (mentioned in previous posts) just weeks before she parted. The questions were different as I hadn't expected to put them in my project.
Did you go through recovery? Answer: I just started a treatment program.
How do you like it? Answer: it's really cool. I get to paint!
Have you done this before? Answer: yeah but I relapsed too many times after.

While browsing through myproana, I read through multiple recovery threads and found one common value: recovery is really hard and most regret it at one point or another but ultimately view it as worth it. It is important to note that everyone on myproana is anonymous so there is a lesser chance of bias. A link will be attached below, however enter at your own risk. Major trigger warning.

As I'm coming to the end of my research, there are a few common ideas. Eating disorders are often not about food, they are addicting, and they are really hard to get rid of. It appears as though the ultimate treatment method will vary from person to person. There are some treatments that might work generally better than others but there is not one cold hard perfect treatment.

Link: http://www.myproana.com