In my last article, I wrote about losing my daughter to anorexia and how I believed that families can re-feed their children especially with the training. Now I’d like to briefly explain the second and third stages of the Maudsley Method as well as some research results.
During the second phase, the anorexic adolescent is at a safe weight and the bulimic adolescent has stopped binging and purging. Now they are gradually put back in charge of their own eating program. The family no longer has to eat every meal with their adolescent. At this time, the therapy sessions still focus on weight gain and also on any problems within the family dynamic.
During the third stage sessions with the therapist and at home, the adolescent is encouraged to develop like any normal teenager. The patient should be at about 95% of her ideal weight, according to Maudsley Parents website. And parents are encouraged to work on their own relationship as well as recreating a normal relationship with their child in the absence of the eating disorder.
The research on the Maudsley Method is promising. In July of 2007, Elizabeth Bernstine of The Wall Street Jounal online, wrote that “In a study published in 2005 in a psychiatry journal, Dr. Lock reported that of 86 anorexic subjects treated with the Maudsley approach, about 90% returned to a normal weight range by 12 months and about 70% returned to normal weight and had normal psychological parameters.”
Similarly, Michael D. Anestis M. S. from Psychotherapy Brown Bag, a website that discusses science and psychology, reported on a more recent study done in Sweden, he wrote that, “32 female adolescents … and their parents received FBT. At 36-month follow-up, 75% of the participants were in full remission. In addition to the elimination of their eating disorder symptoms, the participants reported experiencing less distance from their families and a less chaotic familial environment.” Of course more research needs to be done.
My daughter’s anorexia started over nineteen years ago, and it was difficult to find an effective treatment then; we tried everything but hospitalization. She repeatedly refused. But today a young adolescent with anorexia or bulimia has the Maudsley Method. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of finding the proper care for your child before she’s eighteen. Because once she leaves your home, you may never get another chance.
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/august10/med-lock-081005.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118462797560068164.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
http://www.psychotherapybrownbag.com/psychotherapy_brown_bag_a/2009/11/familybased-treatment-for-adolescent-eating-disorders-a-detailed-discussion-of-the-data.html