What distinguishes Montreux from nearly all other eating-disorder programs is the high level of individual attention given to patients and the focus on relieving both victims and their parents of responsibility for the illness. If patients won't feed themselves, they are hand fed. If they toss their breakfast out the window, it is replaced. Unlike many hospitals, Montreux does not link patient privileges to weight gain and food consumption. Nutritional drinks come in opaque sports bottles to mask the amounts.
Meals are small, frequent, and healthful.
Food is never larded with excess fat and calories, which might send anorexics into a panic. During checkups, patients face away from scales so they don't see their weights. Newspapers and news programs are off limits, as are fashion magazines and discussions of tabloid topics like the JonBenet Ramsey case. One patient was told she could not check out a library book on the Titanic. The news of Princess Diana's death has yet to reach some Montreux patients.