There was a good, basic write-up on the Maudsley Method (aka Family-Based Treatment or FBT) on the blog EmpowHer by a woman who lost her daughter to anorexia nervosa after many years of suffering.
Writes Mary Sornberger:
Dr. Cris Haltom, a licensed psychologist and a Cornell University Ph. D., explains that “The Maudsley Approach is applied to adolescents 18 and under who are living with their families. It is designed to intervene aggressively in the first stages of illness and is a short-term model, as short as twenty sessions or six months in duration.
It is conventional wisdom that recovery is best achieved when eating disorders are treated in the earliest stages, in order to prevent long term, chronic illness.” There is a huge difference in the Maudsley Method compared to other forms of therapy.
The difference is that unlike so many eating disorder therapies, the Maudsley Method does not demonize parents, but after instruction by a trained eating disorder professional, actually puts the parents in charge of re-feeding their own child.
The article is in two parts: Part One and Part Two. These might be a succinct, user-friendly way to explain the treatment you are using for your eating disordered child to friends and loved ones.
1 comment:
thanks for posting this. my daughter went through typical individual therapy and seeing a nutritionist for 5 month before we switched her to a therapist trained in the maudsley method. She is grateful to us that we di. she says the old therapist was vague and couldnt explain what the illness really was. she felt more and more guilt each time she went and there became more and more distance between us. with us now helping her by regulating her intake she became xtremely grateful to us for pulling her out of that mess. she has been in maudsley treatment for only 3-1/2 months but there has been a world of difference in her entire being. she is now smiling, laughing, eating happily, appreciating her life and family and friends again, thanks to being nourished again. she also is anxious for others to recognize what truly causes the illness and stop perceiving those afflicted as the ones who cause and also cure themselves of it. she rolls her eyes at all the girls who are foolishly "admitting" publicly their "behavior" or "problem" and how they are "strong" and determined to stop it. she sees them emracing their disorder as part of their identity, "who they are" and she does not want to be associated with ED like that forever. she wants to lick this illness, be done with it when treatment is over (8 more months) and move on, understanding that her body has a weakness to fall into the illness so she will need to be careful not to diet and to make sure she takes care of herself. this will be a matter of prevention, not admittance to having some sort of chronic addiction or obsession. i am so grateful to Drs LeGrange and Locke for all they have done to shed light on the truths about AN and for FEAST and the Maudsley method for giving us parents the support we need to care for our children like we always have even in the face of this deadly illness.
Post a Comment