Treating anorexia, which is characterized by self-starvation and a lack of ability to maintain a sufficient body weight, seems absurdly simple on the top: just eat and gain weight. It’s something Heather and an incredible number of others suffering from eating disorders have noticed countless times. The problem is that it is never that easy. Heather has long since lost track of the number of times she has been accepted to hospital for lower body weight, electrolyte imbalances triggered by starvation or self-induced vomiting, or thoughts of suicide. In hospital she benefits weight, but when she is discharged she promptly profits to her old ways and manages to lose what little weight she’s gained.
And so to get more than 20 years, she has remained hopelessly, incurably, stuck. Up to one in five people with chronic anorexia may die as a total result of their illness, either due to the direct effects of malnutrition and starvation or credited to suicide, making it the deadliest of most psychiatric disorders.
Although scientists have made tremendous progress in decoding the underlying biology of eating disorders and in finding ways to intervene in instances of teenage anorexia before the disorder becomes chronic, this hasn’t translated into effective treatments for adults like Heather. Chance publishing on Facebook last fall, however, brought Heather the first breath of hope she had sensed in years.
In Ohio, there is an experimental five-day intensive program to help adults with anorexia. What made this one different was that it used … Read the rest
