Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T07:04:37.607Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Compulsory Treatment for Anorexia Nervosa: Compassion or Coercion?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Jane Tiller*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF
Ulrike Schmidt
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF
Janet Treasure
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF
*
Correspondence

Extract

Compulsory treatment for anorexia nervosa was recently once again a topic for discussion following the case of J, a 16-year-old girl who unsuccessfully applied to the Court of Appeal to refuse treatment for her anorexia nervosa. In this instance legal opinion was sought in order to clarify the Children Act 1989. However, much of the media coverage focused on the controversy surrounding the compulsory treatment of anorexia nervosa, under the provisions of the Mental Health Act 1983. There is a lack of research into the compulsory treatment of anorexia nervosa, so debate has to be informed by clinical experience.

Type
Point of View
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1993 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1987) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn, revised) (DSM-III-R). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Birley, J. L. (1991) Psychiatrists and citizens. British Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crisp, A. H., Norton, K., Gowers, S., et al (1991) A controlled study of the effect of therapies aimed at adolescent and family psychopathology in anorexia nervosa. British Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 325333.Google Scholar
Dresser, R. (1984) Feeding the hunger artists: legal issues in treating anorexia nervosa. Winsconsin Law Review, 294374.Google Scholar
Ghadirian, A. M. & Leichner, P. (1990) Psychiatric residents' educational experiences and attitudes towards eating disorders. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 35, 254256.Google Scholar
Kay, D. W. K. (1953) Anorexia nervosa: a study in prognosis. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 46, 669674.Google Scholar
Keys, A., Brozek, J. & Henschel, A. (1950) The Biology of Human Starvation, Vol. 1. Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naish, J. M. (1979) Problems of deception in medical practice. Lancet, ii, 139142.Google Scholar
Orbach, S. (1986) Hunger Strike: The Anorectic's Struggle as a Metaphor for Our Age. London: Faber & Faber.Google Scholar
Palazzoli, M. S. (1978) Self-starvation: From Individual to Family Therapy in the Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa (trans. Pomerans, A.). New York: Jason Aronson.Google Scholar
Palmer, R. L. (1980) Anorexia Nervosa. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Ratnasuriya, R. H., Eisler, I., Szmuckler, G. I., et al (1991) Anorexia nervosa: outcome and prognostic factors after 20 years. British Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 495502.Google Scholar
Royal College of Psychiatrists (1992) Eating disorders. Council Report CR14. London: Royal College of Psychiatrists.Google Scholar
Russell, G. F. M. (1970) Anorexia nervosa: its identity as an illness and its treatment. In: Modem Trends in Psychological Medicine, Vol. 2 (eds Price, J. H.), pp. 131164. London: Butterworths.Google Scholar
Russell, G. F. M., Szmuckler, G. I., Dare, C., et al (1987) An evaluation of family therapy in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 10471056.Google Scholar
Szasz, T. S. (1972) The Myth of Mental Illness. St Albans: Paladin.Google Scholar
Theander, S. (1985) Outcome and prognosis in anorexia nervosa and bulimia: some results of previous investigations compared with those of a Swedish long-term study. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 19, 492508.Google Scholar
Vandereycken, W. (1993) Naughty girls and angry doctors: eating disorder patients and their therapists. International Review of Psychiatry (in press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Health Organization (1992) The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders. Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.