There are really only three choices. No: two.
From the first day of a diagnosis of an eating disorder there are really only two choices:
1) Full nutrition and an end to purging behaviors at home.
2) The same, at a hospital or residential care facility.
There is no third choice. Letting someone remain at home while they restrict or purge is not okay. Our homes must be a safe place to be healthy, period.
What number are you choosing for your loved one?
1) Full nutrition and an end to purging behaviors at home.
2) The same, at a hospital or residential care facility.
There is no third choice. Letting someone remain at home while they restrict or purge is not okay. Our homes must be a safe place to be healthy, period.
What number are you choosing for your loved one?
Choice, what is this strange concept of which you speak?
ReplyDeleteSeriously, it is hard around here to get choice and professionals to work with - variety, now they specialise in that, but informed choice, no way.
I know that it is much the same in the rest of the world and I'm working on changing it - but sometimes it's hard going so it's great to have someone like you Laura whose already doing so much.
Laura--I now think of it as only one acceptable choice: Full nutrition without dangerous ED behavior in the most appropriate,least restrictive, environment possible.
ReplyDeleteFor some that may be home with Maudsley, for some at home with an IOP or day hospital, others may need hospital,etc. All will need a safe and supportive transition plan if they start out or go to a higher level of care, as opposed to being pronouned cured in a residential setting and then discharged home to parents who have been totally excluded from their child's care with a "don't be a food police" message. This may be different for different families or different for some children/adults at different points in recovery.
Thank you for your tireless efforts so that never again will parents hear "she will eat when she is ready" or "its important for her to figure out why she isint eating so that she can start eating again". How about "we will work with you and your D to restore her health and help her deal with any other issues, if they persist, when she is physically and emotionally able to do so" Imagine if parents heard those words at the first sign of an ED rather than after many months or years (or sometimes for some families never hearing them)
SC
wow. you put that so well:
ReplyDelete"Full nutrition without dangerous ED behavior in the most appropriate,least restrictive, environment possible."