Q & A: Chronic Case

Q:My daughter has been eating disordered for over 10 years, and I'm just about at the end of my rope. She has been hospitalized many times, once for almost a year. I see very little improvement. Is there any hope?

A: There's always hope. Remember that recovery can take a long time. Only a few people have an easy time of it. Some manage to get better before dieting, binge eating, and purging become established habits. Others, who have gotten bored with a life based on the refrigerator or bathroom scale, are so ready to quit that they will do anything.

Recovery begins when the person does something constructive to change self-defeating behavior and can last from two to five years or even longer. First, the individual has to realize and admit that they have a problem, and that something in their lives is not working. Then, they have to be uncomfortable enough to want to change. In other words, they need to be motivated. They have to see that their misery is caused, or made worse, by the eating disorder and be willing to give up old, familiar patterns and try risky, unproven new things—a scary prospect. If your daughter went into the hospital to save her life but was not ready to change her behavior, treatment may have alleviated some of the medical issues, not the psychological ones.

Another important aspect of change is that people in recovery need an effective strategy or game plan, usually created with the help of a therapist. Will power and determination are never enough. Unfortunately, most people with eating disorders think they are weak or a failure if they need help, so they avoid the very thing that could effectively support any changes. But seeking help is never an admission of failure. It is a statement that a person is willing to be flexible and open-minded.

It is important for you to keep in mind that some people with chronic eating disorders do seek treatment and improve significantly, but still have lingering episodes or symptoms for a long time—perhaps the rest of their lives. Although these individuals do manage to survive in a variety of job, school, or family situations, treatment goals for these cases involve controlling, not eliminating, compulsive dieting, binge eating, and purging. For someone with anorexia nervosa, weight loss limits need to be in place so the body is not endangered by starvation. For someone with bulimia nervosa, limits on the frequency of binges and purges so that the person remains as physically healthy as possible. However, many of these individuals do grow, develop self-confidence, become more assertive, and resolve some of the issues that fueled the eating disorder. Even when that kind of foundation has been laid, full recovery from an eating disorder might not be possible, but a full life is.

Source material taken from the ANRED Alert. Find more ANRED information at www.anred.com.