Interesting Article

[notxdeadxyet]

Interesting article on the National Eating Disorders Awareness Week and the crappiness of the Renfrew Center's campaign.
Also full of interesting offshoot links.

http://www.salon.com/2012/02/27/eating_disorders_open2012/

Comments

[browncoatrebel]

Great post. I get so annoyed when ED's get simplified to image issues--mine was never about that. I think Renfrew's campaign also annoyed me because I never wear make-up, so it made me feel like I'm some kind of weirdo. It also seems like that would exclude people with ED's who are not cis-women.

[notxdeadxyet]

Short answer is: Renfrew sucks.
I went through there twice (outpatient only) and they did nothing for me. The second time, they didn't even attempt to provide me with aftercare. I went from being a full-time day patient to nothing. I relapsed before the week was over.
Also, my ED was NEVER about my appearance either. It started as an attempt to control my stomach problems by not eating anything. But even after it took on a life of it's own it was never about being "pretty". Not even remotely.

[deconnecte]

Same deal for me. I spent months in a Renfrew day treatment program and it was more detrimental than it was beneficial (especially my discharge, basically they wouldn't touch me with a 10 ft pole to cover their own asses). Unfortunately they're the only real treatment option in the Dallas area. Buh.

[notxdeadxyet]

Exactly!
I went through IOP and it didn't work. Came back a while later and did DP and they were like "Well, you can wait six weeks to do IOP here or go to another location that's about two hours from your home."
So I did neither, relapsed, and ended doing IP in a psych hospital a year later. That program saved my life. They kept me in they're OP program for about a year.
Renfrew rests on its name being known, not the quality of their treatment.

[liteweightbaby]

I participated in it, but I too was mystified as how it related to eating disorders specifically. Body image, yes, it relates very well, but it wasn't body image week.

[notxdeadxyet]

Yeah, it was astonishingly off-base for an ED treatment facility.
Apparently, though, they have a pretty crappy reputation in professional circles so I can't say I'm all that surprised. My personal experience with them sucked as well.
But yeah....totally off base.

[notxdeadxyet]

Couldn't tell you more. Just what my therapist told me.