Summary

The website content provides a personal account and advice on seeking in-patient treatment for eating disorders.

Abstract

The author shares their transformative experience from a three-and-a-half-week in-patient eating disorder treatment program at a hospital. Despite the initial hesitation and the multitude of excuses one might find not to seek such intensive care, the author emphasizes the necessity of in-patient treatment when outpatient methods like therapy, nutritionist consultations, and group therapy have been exhausted or proven insufficient. The article acknowledges the complexity of eating disorders and the importance of medical and therapeutic support, citing statistics on the correlation between eating disorders, particularly bulimia, and depression, as well as the risk of suicide attempts. The author encourages those struggling to take decisive action, as they themselves benefited greatly from the structured environment and support of in-patient care, which they were fortunate to access through an emergency urgency list and subsidized hospital programs.

Opinions

The author believes that despite any excuse, if an eating disorder is significantly impacting one's life, in-patient treatment should be seriously considered.
Therapy and seeing a nutritionist specializing in eating disorders can be helpful, but they may not be enough for everyone.
Medical doctors are cited as wanting to support recovery, regardless of one's weight or the type of eating disorder.
Group therapy can provide encouragement and accountability, though the author notes it can sometimes be inappropriately attended by those seeking weight loss advice rather than genuine recovery support.
The author suggests that if one has tried other resources and is still struggling severely, waiting longer to seek help is not advisable, and in-patient treatment should be pursued.
The article conveys a strong personal regret for not seeking in-patient help earlier in life when it was first desired.
The author's own experience with in-patient treatment is described as life-changing, leading to a much happier and healthier state, despite not being a

In-Patient Eating Disorder Treatment

If you think you might need to go… go.

Hey — I lived in the hospital for three and a half weeks doing an in-patient eating disorder program at a hospital. They wanted me to stay longer, but I had places to go! People to see! I had to get out of there and pretend it had never happened and not mention it again until I wrote about it six months later.

BUT, those three and a half weeks in hospital really changed things for me for the better.

THERE IS EVERY EXCUSE IN THE BOOK NOT TO SEEK IN PATIENT TREATMENT.

Believe me, I know.

It’s like how there’s never a perfect time to have a baby… at some point you need to pull the trigger before it’s too late. So, just do it already.

How do you know you need in-patient treatment? First ask yourself if the eating disorder behavior is infringing on your life, your soul, your relationships, your happiness on consistent and daily (hourly?) basis. If the answer is ‘yes’ then ask yourself this:

Have you tried therapy?

Giving therapy a shot can be really helpful for some people… but eating disorders are a really complicated mental illness and involve so much more than just chit-chatting about it… BUT, if you’re finding that therapy is something that’s helping you, then take it a step further and ask yourself…

Are you seeing a Nutritionist specializing in Eating Disorders?

People with eating disorders are really good at following orders. If someone with an eating disorder is not too far down the rabbit hole and is determined to snap out of the… well, the psychosis, I believe this route combined with therapy can prove successful.

Have you talked to your doctor?

Believe it or not, medical doctors want to support you as you go through your eating disorder recovery. It’s not about being ‘thin enough for them to worry’. Bulimia can be just as damaging as Anorexia to the physical body and even worse for the psyche. Reports show that 11% of people with anorexia also suffer from depression, whereas 50% of people with bulimia suffer from depression. It also states that there is a strong correlation between bulimia and suicide attempts in adolescence. I know in my own journey, particularly in my early 20’s, there were times when I was in such a dark place the idea of suicide was not feeling far fetched. Does your doctor know what you’re going through? How supportive are they? A lot of hospitals now offer eating disorder therapy under their mental illnesses umbrella and with a doctors referral, you can see an in network therapist as well as work with a nutritionist with a reasonable co-pay rate.

Have you tried group therapy?

These sessions can be really powerful for encouragement, suggestions, and accountability. I like to think of it as AA for eating disorders. (without the sponsors). The only problem with these groups is that they mash together anyone with an eating disorder (anorexia/bulimia/binge eating) and there are some people in the group that definitely don’t belong there and are looking for helpful weight loss tips (SO WILDLY TRIGGERING AND INAPPROPRIATE) But some great friends can be made in these places. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry. What a time to be alive.

IF YOU ANSWERED YES TO ALL OF THESE QUESTIONS AND STILL WANT TO KILL YOURSELF BECAUSE YOU CAN’T SNAP OUT OF YOUR UNHEALTHY, UNCONTROLLABLE BRAIN HELL:

GO. TO. IN. PATIENT. TREATMENT.

How? How do you do it?

Well, how I did it was by getting on an emergency urgency list (thank you, pregnancy). I was unbelievably fortunate to get into a free program that many wait YEARS to get into.

BUT, I know that there are other very subsidized options through hospital networks like Kaiser. I’m not 100% sure if they have full on in patient, but I know they have intensive out-patient, which includes being at the hospital all day for meals, supervision, therapy, and nutrition counselling, but going home to sleep.

Or if you have the money, shell it out for an in-patient treatment facility. I was desperate to go to an in-patient facility when I was 18. Desperate. I didn’t go and ended up spending the next 7 years in my own personal hell. Not getting the help I so desperately needed at the time I cried out for it is something that I still deeply mourn.

In patient treatment changed my life. Truly. I mean, it’s not perfect. I’m not perfect. But, I am so, so, so much happier and healthier than I was for those 11 years of my life.

Maybe I’ll detail more about what actual treatment did for me some other time, but for now, this is me telling you, if you’ve exhausted all of your resources outside of in-patient or if you’re downright hopeless, waiting longer in case you can somehow fix yourself isn’t going to happen. I hate to tell you, it’s not. GO.