Anorexia nervosa is a life-threatening eating disorder which may require in-patient treatment to help the sufferer recover. Many anorexics who are admitted to inpatient eating disorder units have already been through months or even years of various forms of outpatient or day patient treatment, with limited success.
Eating Disorder Unit – Anorexia Treatment
While films like to portray eating disorder units as places where everyone seems to be walking around with a feeding tube or drip, real life is quite different. In 2002 and 2003, when I was an inpatient at a Priory eating disorder unit, the daily routine was very structured, involving group therapy, exercise, individual therapy and eating together with nursing staff. Although eating with a nurse watching your every move and checking yogurt pots or butter pots was initially very challenging, it became easier as time went on.
Daily Routine at Priory Eating Disorder Unit
When I first arrived at the eating disorder unit, I was given a detailed timetable covering every aspect of the day, from breakfast to evening medication. At the age of 24, this felt rather like being back at school, with the therapists being the teachers and my psychiatrist being the head. This is what a typical day on the unit involved:
- 07.45 - morning medication
- 08.00 - breakfast, followed by supervision in the lounge
- 09.30 - group session
- 10.00 - stretch 'n' tone (exercise session if at safe BMI)
- 10.45 - snack
- 11.00 - diary session
- 12.00 - walk (supervised if weight low)
- 12.30 - lunch, followed by supervision
- 14.00 - group therapy - cognitive behavioural therapy/psychodrama/self-esteem
- 15.30 - walk
- 16.15 - snack, free time
- 18.00 - dinner, followed by supervision then free time or aftercare group
- 21.30 - snack
- 22.00 - evening medication
Inpatient Treatment – Group Therapy
On the eating disorder unit, we had a mixture of one-to-one's (individual therapy sessions) and group therapy. Until I got to know the therapists and the other patients, group therapy was extremely daunting, as it was quite painful to have to talk about my issues with a whole load of complete strangers. Group therapy helped me to understand what the anorexia was doing to my body, mind and why recovery was so crucial. Psychodrama was especially hard, although I enjoyed being off the ward and in the hospital's ballroom. To this day, I still don't really understand how some of the sessions had any bearing on life with anorexia.
Cognitive behavioural therapy sessions and daily diary groups were the most helpful, as you learned new tools and saw how they helped others, when listening to their diary readings. The groups were a place where it was okay to laugh, cry, be angry or upset, knowing that every person in the room knew exactly how hard the fight is to beat anorexia.
The tools I learned in the eating disorder unit are still useful today, with my menu plan and exercise contract remaining a part of daily life. If you are suffering from anorexia or bulimia and have not found outpatient or daypatient treatment sufficient, I strongly recommend looking into inpatient or residential eating disorder units. UK based eating disorder units run by Priory, especially in Southampton and London, and the Renfrew Center in the US are well worth exploring.
Kate Le Page - Kate Henning-Le Page writes about eating disorders, body image and recovery issues. She specializes in anorexia recovery.
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