Post 8

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting with Dr. Busath, professor at Northern Arizona University. His research regarded sexual harassment and its link to eating disorders. I asked a handful of questions and got a good amount of answers about how he conducted his reason. I feel more confident in undergraduate research myself now.

Here were some of my questions and their answers (I don't remember all of them as it was more of a conversation): 

1. How did you get into researching sexual harassment and eating disorders? Answer: It started when I was single and dating. I was talking to a girl about her experiences in the work force and all went from there. 

2. What really is your research about? Answer: If there is a correlation between sexual assault and eating disorders.

3. How did you go about this research? Answer: I asked the psychology 101 class, females only, and had them answer questions.

4. What kinds of questions? Answer: there were 5 questionnaires including eating attitudes, cyber sexual harassment, sexual harassment, attachment and body image (?).

Examples of the eating attitudes questions include: I am terrified about being overweight: Always, usually, often, sometimes, rarely, never.

I vomit after I have eaten: Always, usually, often, sometimes, rarely, never.

I display self-control around food: Always, usually, often, sometimes, rarely, never.

Here is a link: http://www.eat-26.com

5. What did you find? Answer: I found that there is a 0.24 (this is high in psychology) correlation between being sexually harassed and developing an eating disorder.

6. Would you agree that eating disorders should be treated as trauma? Answer: Yes sexual harassment is often a traumatic event as well. 

Basically, I had the opportunity to review Dr. Busath's research, get to know it a bit, and understand a bit about how questioning works. 

Dr. Busath's research shows that eating disorders really are often about a 3rd variable, not necessarily only body image. This is likely why so many of the doctors I talked to treated eating disorders as trauma so that they can get to the core of the issue. Treating the cause not the symptoms. 

Ultimately I'm still stuck on the idea that if someone isn't ready to receive treatment or admit they have a problem, they still won't regardless of how good the treatment is. 

Post 7

This past Thursday I had the opportunity to visit the Rosewood Outpatient clinic. I also got to talk on the phone with the inpatient clinic, as touring wasn't possible unless I was an admitted patient.

What I found about the  clinic is that it is intensive outpatient therapy. Basically what this means is that patients come in a whopping 3 times a week for 3 hour sessions. Immediately after a patient from the inpatient center is discharged, they are sent to the outpatient clinic. The inpatient center is in Wickenburg, Arizona and the outpatient center is in Chandler, Arizona. The two are about 1.5 hours apart.

One of the biggest issues with inpatient is that insurance will only cover a patients stay for a certain period of time, rather than covering it until they're done. A bigger issue with outpatient therapy is that insurance usually doesn't cover it at all. The doctor at Rosewood outpatient told me he has experienced a very low relapse rate with this intensive therapy, but not everyone can afford it. All too often a patient would be discharged from the inpatient clinic and wouldn't be able to afford the outpatient treatment, so they fall back into the same cycles. The inpatient center has a beautiful location and lots of land, offering horse riding and art therapy.

Rosewood offers several different options. A patient doesn't have to do inpatient therapy to receive the outpatient program. The outpatient program also has options, intensive or non-intensive. Furthermore there are degrees of hospitalization as well, depending on the patient's needs. The programs are very much catered to the individual's needs and their general health. Before doing either Inpatient or Outpatient, patients are required to complete blood work so the doctor knows their general health.

Another cool aspect of Rosewood that isn't found everywhere is the Alumni program. Individuals that are finished with their treatment can still meet with the doctor once a week or biweekly or even just once a month to make sure they're still on the right path. Rosewood seems to be a community and the doctors and employees are very committed. The doctor told me that one of the most important thing in treating especially underage patients is getting the family involved. The doctor gets immediate family in a single session and makes sure they understand the course of the treatment, and how to be supportive. Also, there are group sessions that are anonymous that anyone can attend but is recommended for friends and family of someone suffering. Patients that attend "Eating Disorders Anonymous" do not have to be patients; many people go just to talk to people similar to them.

Rosewood is one of the biggest eating disorder treatment chains in the country, with a quite high success rate.

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

Post 5

Last week was really eventful with my research.
I visited the Flagstaff Guidance Center and got a full tour. Though they don't typically treat eating disorders, often times patients with schizophrenia or psychosis will often struggle with food issues as well. This is a short term rehab center guided to stabilize patients enough to send them to out-patient therapy so they can continue meeting with doctors but live on their own. Attached is a picture of one of the rooms in the guidance center that I took, the beds are bolted down and usually the rooms don't have curtains because patients tear them down out of anger. The center was pretty interesting and all the staff were really kind. This however, is not a place I would go to if I wanted help for an eating disorder. The mood was very dreary and it looked like what I would imagine a mental institution to look like: cold and gloomy. The nurse that took me through the center mentioned that often times people that come to inpatient therapy come back after a few weeks because they still aren't stable enough to live on their own.

I spoke to 2 psychologists this week, Ron Paul at Inner Journey Counseling and Andy Hogg.

My conversation with Mr. Paul went as so:
1. Do you treat eating disorders? Answer: yes.
2. What methods do you use for treatment? Answer: I treat eating disorders with two steps; first I treat it as a trauma because often eating disorders aren't about losing weight but rather some traumatic experience in the past. After that I use EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) which is a psychotherapeutic approach guided to treat trauma, and hypnosis to release any built up events.
I asked the psychologist about CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) and he said that while he has had success doing that, he has found that treating eating disorders like trauma has a better outcome.
3. Have you found there to be a high relapse rate? Answer: I have found that when I get patients coming out of inpatient therapy there is a high relapse rate but in my own practice I have seen little to none.
4. What is the effectiveness in your treatment? Answer: Trauma lives in a different part of our brain so treating that first makes the methods above more effective.


My conversation with Dr. Hogg wet as so:
1. Do you treat eating disorders? Answer: Rarely, but yes.
2. What methods do you use for treatment? Answer: It's a multi-step process but I start with educating the patient about their eating disorder. Next we find a mechanism to monitor weight so the patient doesn't fall too low or lose sanity in not knowing how much they weigh. Finally we identify the problem as it usually isn't about food. I have found that often simply talking it out is effective.
3. Have you found there to be a high relapse rate? Answer: Compulsive behaviors and addiction usually have higher relapse rates and since eating disorders are both, they take several years to overcome.
4. Have you found your treatment to be effective? Answer: In order for any treatment to be effective, a patient must come to terms with the disorder.

The conversations were very interesting and ultimately they found the same thing: eating disorders are addictive and should be treated as trauma.

I couldn't meet with NAU Professor Dr. Busath because we both had conflicting schedules, however we have another meeting scheduled for 2 weeks from now.
I plan to tour an eating disorder clinic in Phoenix on Thursday, however I will likely have to act as an interested family member to get a tour.

Post 4

Good morning, last night I spoke to a psychiatric hospital in Phoenix over the phone. Unfortunately I wasn't able to talk to an actual psychiatrist because they were too busy but I did get to speak with a psychiatric nurse. The hospital was Mercy in Gilbert, the psychiatric unit (acute cases only).
I asked the nurse the following questions and received the following answers:
1. Do you receive eating disorder patients? Answer: yes, we receive patients in critical conditions often when their weight is too low.
2. Is anorexia the most commonly treated? Answer: yes
3. How is it treated here? Answer: patients are discharged when some weight has been restored and they're stable enough to go home.
4. Is this a permanent solution? Answer: no, this is a life-saving measure but therapy should follow after.
Furthermore I had an appointment with my former psychiatrist and asked him similar questions but got different responses.
1. Do you treat eating disorders? Answer: yes.
2. How? Answer: first step is diagnosing and next is often with medication.
3. Last year you mentioned to me that eating disorders were mostly social disorders rather than mental disorders, could you elaborate? Answer: They are social disorders because they are heavily influenced by media and usually are in an attempt to please someone or some aesthetic.
4. If taken too far can they become mental disorders? Answer: They are partly mental to begin with because it has to start from something, the media isn't all to blame. However, once a patient gets to a certain point, it becomes a physical disease that is too often life threatening.

These 2 point of views have gotten me thinking about treatment methods. In my last post I mentioned about how patient compliance is very important in treatment, but after speaking with Dr. Figueroa, I realize that Doctor compliance is likely an important matter as well. I will be speaking with a representative from an eating disorder facility in California tonight or tomorrow and visiting a center in Phoenix soon.
An added question will be as so: if the doctor doesn't believe an eating disorder is psychiatric, how does that influence patient care?
Finally, I will be meeting with Dr. Busath at Northern Arizona University to talk to him about his experience with eating disorders and what he has found this Friday.

Post 3

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

Post 2

My posts have been scattered, my apologies for that. I haven't gotten to meet with any doctors, they continuously say that they will call me back and then never do. I've been watching many movies regarding eating disorders to get a feel for how media portrays them and frankly I was a bit disappointed.

I started with Starving in Suburbia which is a popular movie about a young dancer that starts looking at pictures of thin girls, joins a pro-anorexia website and begins restricting her caloric intake. The escalation of her eating disorder is done well because it shows how obsessive she gets with food (as do most people struggling with an eating disorder) however it does glamorize the eating disorder by making it seem almost normal.

I next watched Perfect Body because it was about an anorexic gymnast which is very personal as I was a gymnast and I struggled with an eating disorder. The main character starts training at a pre-olympic gymnastics academy and gets told to lose weight. She begins restricting her foods while still maintaining a strict training schedule. The unrealistic side of this film is that while eating next to nothing on a daily basis, she continues to maintain strength without much struggle until the very end. This isn't how it works and I believe it almost encourages young girls to try the "restriction diet."

The third thing I watched is called Binge, it's a television series that only recently started. It's about a girl that struggles with bulimia and addiction, in a very dark but comedic way. I did like this show because the main character ends up scarfing down food in private moments including her car or behind a trashcan, only to purge it afterwards. Rather than glamorizing the eating disorder or making it seem like less of a problem, Binge highlights the struggle of your mind telling you to throw up. If the media portrays eating disorders as beautiful, more young girls and boys will be inclined to try it.

Over the next few days I will finish re-reading Wintergirls  by Laurie Anderson, analyzing why the tumblr eating disorder community is so obsessed with this book, particularly the page that says "must not eat" over and over again.

Anorexia is not the beautiful long-haired girl saying no to a cupcake. It's the frail, thing-haired girl with dark circles under her eyes struggling to stay conscious. Eating disorders are dangerous. This is National Eating Disorders Awareness week. If you or someone you know are struggling with ANY eating disorder, don't be afraid to reach out for help. Eating disorders are far more prevalent than we realize, but they are not untreatable.

Remember to smile.
-Sylvia