Adolescents resisting treatment: exploring the resistance in eating disorder patients to treatment within the family system.
In the last three decades, the literature has supported the concept of conjoint family therapy for eating disorder patients. However, recently researchers have provided a more consistent focus on the individual in the context of seeing the family, turning to parent counseling and therapy especially when the patient resists therapy, at all ages. This development has come about due to the separation issues, the repetitive patterns of interaction about food and the need to understand the unconscious dialogue between parents and child as expressed through the eating disorder symptom. The aim of this paper is to present a family therapy model for eating disorder patients developed at the Davidson Clinic (Hanotrim). The model emphasizes the importance of separate treatment for the child and for her/his parents in the first stage of treatment. We shall discuss the importance of recruiting the parents into the therapeutic process, the powerful effect of parent group therapy and the father's crucial role in enabling the daughter's recovery. A case study that was conducted mostly with parents will illustrate the model.
Zubery
Eynat
E
Eating Disorder Unit, Davidson Clinic, Raanana, Shalvata Mental Health Center, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel. etzubery@clalit.org.il
Binsted
Naama
N
Zifman
Nesia
N
Jecsmien
Pablo
P
D000293:Adolescent; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005196:Family Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016312:Treatment Refusal