When lunch is over, many patients have barely touched their food. Feeling full terrifies them. The eating disorder has sort of evolved into who I am. And I am just afraid that once I get better, I am just going to be an empty shell. The treatment is tough.
Patients come in with their own ambivalence about it.
We are implementing a complicated set of rules and regulations and schedules for these patients, offering them food they are not sure they want to eat, and that's hard. After lunch, several patients are escorted to the bathroom. Their feet must face forward in the stalls. No secret vomiting allowed. Doctors say these are tough love tactics necessary to kick start patients into gaining weight.