Creating Community – The Introduction of Multi‐Family Therapy for Eating Disorders in Australia

Abstract

It is well established that connection and support are associated with supporting recovery from eating disorders whereas isolation and feeling misunderstood can be barriers to change. While the consumer and recovery movements have long advocated for treatments that go beyond symptom reduction alone to include factors such as connection with others, there are few treatments that are designed to target these directly for young people with eating disorders and their families. In 2014 the Sydney Children's Hospital Network Eating Disorder Service at The Children's Hospital at Westmead introduced multi‐family therapy (MFT), the first program of its kind in Australia, with a primary aim being to increase solidarity and support for families in addition to helping promote eating disorder recovery more broadly. Rooted in the principles of family therapy for anorexia nervosa, MFT generally brings together six to eight families for a four‐consecutive day workshop followed by six single follow‐up workshops over the course of six months. This paper reviews the current literature available on MFT, describes its introduction at a specialist tertiary eating disorder service in Australia, explores preliminary feedback from families, and discusses the importance of creating solidarity for families affected by eating disorders.

“Breaking down the wall” patients` and families` experience of multifamily therapy for young adult women with severe eating disorders

“…They found in it a space within which they could share, and have recognised, the difficulties within their family with others who understood because they had similar difficulties. This created a powerful feeling of ‘being on the same wavelength’ and a fellowship and solidarity both liberating and painful [ 28 ].…”

“…Dawson and colleagues [ 28 ] found that MFT fosters social and personal resources by creating community , and that the core principles of MFT include creating solidarity . Tantillo and colleagues` [ 22 ] study showed that parents in MFT found it refreshing to be with others who really understood, experiencing it as being like coming home.…”

“…Encouraging open communication is one of the core values of MFT [ 18 , 28 ]. This is in conformity with our finding: “Opening up and sharing”.…”

“…Additionally, it is of crucial importance to understand the experiences and perception of patients and family members regarding MFT intervention [ 17 ] because sharing their experience may help improve the MFT service establishment [ 10 ], may facilitate insight into the disorder, increase hopefulness and reduce blame and guilt [ 28 ]. During MFT, patients experienced parents as “firm”, which led to increased support, especially with eating habits, which improved quality of life in those patients and their family members [ 17 ].…”

Conscious Self-Regulation, Level of Anxiety in Eating Disorders: A Structural Model

“…Eating disorders are the result of a complex interaction of constitutional, biological, social, and psychological factors. Research on eating disorders focuses on the role of mental disorders (Chami et al, 2020;Dawson et al, 2018;Palavras et al, 2020;Weiss et al, 2019) and sociocultural factors (Ordaz et al, 2018;Rodgers et al, 2018;2019Yamamiya et al, 2016). Currently, there are more and more studies that examine various types of mental self-regulation among the significant factors of nutritional behavior (Annesi et al, 2016;Dohle et al, 2018;Eschenbeck et al, 2016;Kennel, 2018;Menzie et al, 2017).…”