Looking back at my first ATDT forum posts in 2010

On the 9th March 2010 I discovered the Around The Dinner Table forum which supports parents and carers of young people with eating disorders. And I posted my very first post. I was worried sick because, after just a month of treatment, CAMHS didn't seem to think that Ben's case was too serious. Already they were suggesting spacing out our appointments to fortnightly and the psychiatrist had gone on leave for three weeks.

What frustrates us is that his psychiatrist doesn't think his problem is too severe. His BMI isn't bad and when he's with her, his behavior is quite normal. As a result she's started spacing our appointments further apart; we have a 4 week break between our next two appointments. Despite trying to argue the case with her, she's adamant he isn't too bad. As parents we feel as if we've been pushed off a cliff and into free-fall... 

and

The CAMHS team really don't think he's seriously bad and it makes me mad because I know differently and he's pulling the wool over their eyes... now psych has gone off on her hols for 3 weeks too so we're all at sea... Last time we saw her she was all smiles and congratulations as B reached a 'healthy weight' for the first time. B took that to mean he can maintain his weight now at what, to me, still looks very thin and not at all like the strapping sportsman he once was...

This was the beginning of the fight for me to get Ben fully weight-restored as opposed to settling for just within the healthy range according to the official charts, which wasn't anything like the pre-eating-disordered Ben.

And, as you will know if you've read my book Please eat..., shortly after this Ben admitted that he was deceiving CAMHS - or, rather, the eating disorder was deceiving CAMHS. He, or 'it', was "play-acting" at the CAMHS sessions, pretending to be perfectly OK.

Yet the moment we'd leave the CAMHS unit - woosh! - all hell would break loose as he'd undergo a Jekyll-and-Hyde-style transformation into 'the demon'...