Challenge
Issues Faced
Mr and Mrs Davies are deeply concerned about their daughter Gemma who is 18 years old and has been self-harming. They suspected Gemma may have an eating disorder, Bulimia as they recently witnessed her binge eating and purging), is malnourished, continues to lose weight and had recently taken an overdose of paracetamol that had seen her hospitalised and was subsequently discharged 3 days later.
Mr and Mrs Davies said that Gemma had significant difficulties at school 4 years previously where she was bullied over a long period of time. Mr and Mrs Davies were both currently taking a lot of time off work to chaperone their daughter and were unable to stop her from continuing to cause harm to herself and were finding it impossible witnessing their daughter going down hill and were feeling helpless.
Despite multiple attempts by Mr and Mrs Davies to help, they had only found themselves in hostile arguments about what was the right thing to do, or not. Local services had stated that there was a lengthy waiting list and Gemma had been to see her GP but had not to date been able to make any progress as quickly as they would like and needed help for their daughter as soon as possible, calling Infinity Addiction Solutions.
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Solution
What we Did
A member of our team at Infinity Addiction Solutions spoke directly to Mr and Mrs Davies and their daughter Gemma who said she really wanted help and was willing to engage in treatment as she was fed up of feeling so low all of the time or not wanting to live.
We assessed Gemma’s needs and recommended 8-12 weeks inpatient treatment where she would be seen by a consultant addiction psychiatrist for further assessment to stabilise her mental health, engage in an eating disorder program, nutritionist input for dietary plan, prepare for and engage in trauma based counselling and therapies, implement family therapy to help with understanding of Gemma’s eating disorder and needs, healthy communication styles and tools for supporting Gemma’s recovery.
Aftercare to be in place for 3-6 months and would include one to one CBT counselling, with ongoing trauma work, aftercare group therapy to support Gemma’s transition back into homelife and employment.
Outcome
The Result
Gemma attended inpatient treatment 3 days later initially for an 8 week period, was diagnosed with Bulimia nervosa, depression and was stabilised with prescription mood stabilizer medication. Initially struggling in a social setting, Gemma was gradually introduced to her peer group and was soon able to engage in a CBT program to help her address her Bulimia and associated behaviours including her self harm.
Gemma chose to extend her inpatient stay for a further 8 weeks as she stated she was learning so much about herself and that despite feeling strong in herself, she wanted to feel stronger before returning home. Mr and Mrs Davies engaged with our family program and after successful completion of her inpatient treatment, Gemma returned home where she lived with her parents, was referred to a trauma therapist in her home area for ongoing trauma work and reports she is doing very well.
