People have been resistant to eating disorder treatment for as long as I can remember, however, recently, these numbers have become astronomical. Especially for those who have gone to treatment in the past.
Doctors, counselors and other health care professionals — as well as the general public — need to know why people don’t seek help for eating disorders, according to the study authors.
They said young adults should be provided with more information about the severity and impact of eating disorders, how symptoms can get worse without treatment, and the importance of seeking help and learning self-management strategies. –International Journal of Eating Disorders
Why is this? The industry is finally taking a look at the reasoning, and polling people in treatment. Well there is a definite fallacy in polling anyone who is IN treatment. Think about it. If a restaurant polled you while you were eating as to why you’re not coming in as frequently, the general public would probably resort to lies.
“I’ve been uh…. busy.” “We didn’t know you were open….” “We’ve been trying to cut back on our budget…..” etc.
None of these things are the truth, so why is it that we don’t say, “You’re food really sucks, and I can’t stand the service.” We don’t want to make anyone feel bad. Now why would any of this be different with one of the most sensitive populations in the psychiatric world? Even those they polled who are not in treatment would say the same things as a majority.
“I didn’t want to be a burden….” “I uh… didn’t know it was that bad.” etc.
None of these are even close to the truth either. Why would they be? The studies take these excuses to not seek treatment as the truth, and then conclude that people need more education on the severity eating disorders can have on their physical and mental wellbeing. No one is more of an expert on ALL of these things like a person struggling with an eating disorder. It is RARE to find a patient who has not read up on everything about their disorder.
The truth is they hate the food and the service sucks. I hate to be so blunt about this, but it’s what almost ALL of my patients have said as their reasoning for not seeking traditional treatment. They don’t “get it,” is the reasoning I get in some form or another. A direct quote from one of my patients, blessed by the whole program at one time wrote:
It’s like they don’t get it. We know so much more than they ever will about food, the body, and what the consequences of our disorders are. We are the ones LIVING with them for God’s sake! We could educate THEM, on the biochemistry of how we survive. The only people who really understand are the ones without an ego, ready to look up from their incorrect text books, and are willing to listen to us about what we can teach them about how to support us and what we actually need.
Ramey Nutrition was an actual clinic in Seattle, WA from 2007-2018. I BASED the clinic’s philosophy on the above statement. My patients needed to be in charge, not have their control taken away. We continue this today on our online portal to support people the way THEY know they need support, and are excited to be able to support effectively throughout this time that people are needing it most.
If we can listen to the information our patients can give us, we can learn encyclopedias about the REALITIES of what they need. If they think we’ll never change as an industry, why would they even attempt to give us the truth?
For more information, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Thank you, and all my best!
Scarlett Ramey, MS, RDN, CD
(206) 910-8690)