Yes, I agree with this new blog, FBT is dang hard...

This new blog from the Kartini Clinic in the States is really great. And parts of it reflect what families have said to me in my research for my new book "When Anorexia Came To Visit". The thing is, with any other illness with such a high mortality rate, you would automatically expect to hand it over to the professionals and let them get your child through it. You wouldn't think twice about that and you certainly wouldn't attempt to do it at home. However, because - in so many cases - FBT (Family-Based Treatment) for eating disorders has been shown to lead to a positive outcome with anorexia and some other eating disorders, this is what we families are expected to do. And it is danged hard.


However I would argue that it is even harder when you don't have the support you're meant to have with true FBT and you are, in effect, taking on the role of the professional because those professionals simply don't know their stuff - or are following outdated treatment models.

Some of the families in my new book found themselves with no option but to ditch treatment teams altogether and battle it out on their own.

Of course this wouldn't happen with any other illness with such a high mortality rate. But it does with eating disorders. And not because we, as parents, choose to take on such a terrifying and demanding job.

True FBT might be danged hard, but going it alone because you have little choice is even harder, especially when the stakes are so high.