'I am actually afraid of myself'

Most eating disorder patients can't come out and say it - it is a symptom of the way the illness mangles the brain.

But some do:
'I am actually afraid of myself': Teen pleads for more services

And even then, society often proves unable to hear.

Comments

  1. This is sick. But there is really nothing we can do about it.

    Reading this article, I feel fortunate that although I have anorexia, depression, OCD, anxiety -- I am functioning enough to attend school and somehow (SOMEHOW) was able to get the help I needed -- However, I am paying for that help out of pocket

    I hate to think of the people who cannot afford private practice help.

    In most cases, the problem is not intensive care -- that usually can be recieved in time -- but aftercare -- once someone with AN is out of the woods, does that mean they are better? There is such a high relapse rate partially because of the lack of aftercare.

    You cannot get us to a healthy weight and then abandon us before we have had a chance to learn to care for ourselves.

    A

    ReplyDelete
  2. A,

    I understand- I think the support after weight restoration needs to be just as intense (if not more so, even if it is in a different way) as when a person is underweight.

    I've been meaning to get back to your email- I will do so very shortly. I've been swamped!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You are both so right. We are really failing patients - the full spectrum of care needs to be compassionate and consistent!!

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  4. Although it's beyond unfortunate that this young lady is experiencing such barriers towards receiving wanted and needed treatment it is helpful that she recognizes the need for treatment and is doing something to secure it. I do believe it is helpful for people to speak up and assert needs pertaining to treatment, providers and consumers alike, so that we can push forward. There are many areas that we need to enhance inc. as Carrie indicated continuum of care for individuals post weight-restoration. So often I hear people comparing US mental health care to other countries and this is one of those situations where I don't think that we would want to trade circumstances.

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  5. Laura,
    Someone needs to reach her family with this web site. Is that possible?

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  6. This could quite easily be in the UK. I am still not seeing somebody through our NHS, despite being very ill since April - I go private which costs a fortune. A psychiatrist is not forthcoming, full-stop, and the ED clinic has turned me down for the third time. I discovered, via an email from our Houses of Parliament, that they are proud to announce that, over the next three years, they will be putting £131,000 into ED help. That's not much over £45,000 p.a., an average family wage to feed, and care for four people. So how can that be spread over the hundreds of thousands of sufferers in one year?

    ReplyDelete

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