Helping or hindering? : the professional鈥檚 perspective on recovery from an eating disorder

Abstract

Anorexia and bulimia affect 1% to 3% of the population, with 9 out of ten people diagnosed being female (Patching, 2008). With the onset of anorexia and bulimia in females commonly occurring during or after puberty (American Psychology Association, 2013). The concept of recovery is still somewhat of a grey area. Practitioners usually look at recovery from three aspects, these being the physical, the psychological and the behavioural aspects. Noordenbos (2011), highlighted in her study that different professionals have different opinions on what constitutes a complete recovery and subsequently how to achieve a complete recovery. Furthermore, there exists a gap in literature regarding the recovery process and the experience of clients going through this process. I aim to address this gap in literature through my research. This qualitative research sets out to understand what professionals who work in the area of eating disorders believe helps or hinders clients in their recovery process. This was done through interviewing professionals who work with clients who suffer from eating disorders. The professionals involved included a psychiatrist, a psychiatric nurse, nutritionists, and psychologists. The findings of this study suggest that there are various factors which both help and hinder clients in their recovery process. The most salient themes include the personal characteristics of the person with an eating disorder and their relation to recovery, the role of the family, the importance of the provision of a holistic approach through the multi-disciplinary team, the importance of support systems, the lasting effects of stressful life events and the importance of getting treatment early on. The findings also suggest that more involvement from social workers in the area of eating disorders is required, particularly through the establishment of a specialist service. Furthermore, this research suggests that educational training programmes for families of clients with eating disorders would give families the necessary tools to provide a better outcome of recovery for the clients.