National Survey Shows Dramatic Increase in Awareness of Eating Disorders
NEDA's National Survey Shows Dramatic Increase in Awareness of Eating Disorders offers some interesting information for us all to be looking at.
In particular, I think we have to face the fact that the first port of call for many families - ours included - was the family doctor. And, as is often the case, that is where we first got the wrong messages. We had NO reason to wonder if what we were hearing was suspect: "she needs more salt" and "isn't in danger." That was a critical moment and it could have been a pivotal one in a very positive way if we'd heard: "she may have a very serious brain disorder, you need to seek specialist care immediately, her chances of recovery are high if you act now." Oh, and "you are about to embark on the most difficult but important challenge of your lives so far."
The part of the survey that genuinely shocked me was the percentage of people who report knowing about Family-Based Maudsley Treatment. 33%? Really?
I'm guessing that when the general public is asked about something that sounds a lot like "family therapy" they assume they do know what it is. This probably also goes for those primary care physicians mentioned above, and this matters: without leads to how to access FBT, many families end up in "family therapy" that doesn't resemble FBT/Maudsley at all.
In particular, I think we have to face the fact that the first port of call for many families - ours included - was the family doctor. And, as is often the case, that is where we first got the wrong messages. We had NO reason to wonder if what we were hearing was suspect: "she needs more salt" and "isn't in danger." That was a critical moment and it could have been a pivotal one in a very positive way if we'd heard: "she may have a very serious brain disorder, you need to seek specialist care immediately, her chances of recovery are high if you act now." Oh, and "you are about to embark on the most difficult but important challenge of your lives so far."
The part of the survey that genuinely shocked me was the percentage of people who report knowing about Family-Based Maudsley Treatment. 33%? Really?
I'm guessing that when the general public is asked about something that sounds a lot like "family therapy" they assume they do know what it is. This probably also goes for those primary care physicians mentioned above, and this matters: without leads to how to access FBT, many families end up in "family therapy" that doesn't resemble FBT/Maudsley at all.
Comments
Post a Comment