I've been talking to Glasgow and Clyde about FBT and this is what they say...

The other day I emailed Charlotte Oakley, Clinical Lead, Connect-Eating Disorders, Glasgow & Clyde, Scotland, for more information on Family Based Treatment for eating disorders being rolled out across Scotland. I am immensely grateful to her for taking the time and trouble to reply at length, for allowing me to post the following info and for clarifying the situation which will hopefully help my blog followers to understand what is being done in Scotland - and why. Or at least in Greater Glasgow & Clyde - because, as Charlotte says, she "cannot speak for all of Scotland" although she suspects that other areas are "likely to be the same".

The Kindle version of 'Please Eat...' is now available in German!

Thank you so much to my translator from Germany who volunteered his services after having read the English version of Please eat...: A mother's struggle to free her teenage son from anorexia. Daniel has been working on the English version since the middle of last year. He also arranged for German proof-readers to check it through and provide feedback. We are both thrilled that the Kindle version of Bitte iss wieder... Eine Mutter kämpft, um ihren Teenagersohn von der Magersucht zu befreien has now been published - and the paperback edition will follow in the next few days. Thank you again, Daniel, for all your help and for believing in my message strongly enough to offer to spend months translating it into German so more families can read our story.

I agree that 'one size does not fit all' when it comes to treatment, and here's why...

... which is why I do, in the main, agree with Cathy's comment to yesterday's post (which I really appreciate). Here are my thoughts...

My book 'Please eat' - soon to be published in German!

A huge thank you to the guy from Germany who's been hard at work translating my book Please eat...: A mother's struggle to free her teenage son from anorexia into German so families in Germany can read our story. It's been been given the thumbs up by the German proof-readers and is almost ready to be published - in paperback and as a Kindle download. This guy has generously spent hours and hours carefully translating my words (at his own suggestion) and we've finally managed to find German equivalents for all the British slang. (For example, where is Planet Zorg located? ;) Watch this space for more news!

"So where does this leave us?" asked my husband

"Okay, it's wonderful knowing that young people in Scotland are being given a better chance of recovery, and sustained recovery, from their eating disorders - but where does this leave us? How does it help us?" asked my husband.

Yes I know that FBT may not help everyone but...

No-one is claiming that FBT (Family Based Treatment) for eating disorders has a 100% success rate, nor that it works as effectively for adults with eating disorders as it does with adolescents. There are families where FBT has failed to help their child recover; indeed I know of some personally. But the reason why it is being rolled out across Scotland for families that request it is that studies and clinical trials have proven that it is significantly more effective in achieving a faster and more sustained recovery for adolescents than when alternative methods are used. And that, in my opinion, is as good a reason as any for everyone, wherever they live, to be permitted access to FBT.

Sorry, but it's just far, far too complicated for lives to be saved

This, it appears, is what The System is like in England (I know Wales is different). Things are so very, very complicated in England that it's almost impossible to explain. (Thanks Marcella for doing your level best to attempt to do so, though...) This, essentially, is almost certainly why FBT (Family Based Treatment) for eating disorders in adolescents is not being rolled out across England as it is in Scotland (which has a far, far simpler political system by the sound of things). Meanwhile young lives are being lost. Like the young man and women I learned about at the weekend - both university students who lost their lives to their eating disorder.

Scotland rocks - quick blog before I rush out!!!!

Gotta rush out, only got back late last night, so this is a copy of what I've just posted on the ATDT forum - will talk A LOT MORE when I get back. I have SO MUCH TO SAY I think I'm going to EXPLODE!!!!!!! Here it is...