Guilford Press. 1997. Controlling Eating Disorders with Facts, Advice, and Resources R. Lemberg. It is the responsibility of nursing staff to facilitate change, not dictate it as a first line intervention. Predominantly, hospital admissions for patients with eating disorders are about normalising eating patterns, restoring physical and nutritional health, helping the patients make sense of their illness and developing strategies to challenge it. Even patients voluntarily seeking admission rarely believe in the need for weight restoration, at least not to the level recommended by health professionals.
Patients usually present scared, fearful, panicked and often angry about gaining weight.
It doesn't matter what you do the patients are going to resist you all the way. Many factors contribute to staff anxiety when faced with patients with eating disorders in a treatment facility. Developing first an understanding of our own attitudes and expectations, enables staff to approach patients with an open mind, be less affronted by the illness and its associated behaviours, and to see the patients as individuals rather than a disorder. When this process has been achieved, it is interesting to observe the paradigm shift in staff. Many adamant believers in strict behavioural programmes view treatment options through a different lens once they are able to empathise with the patients' perspective.