CBT for Anorexia?

[Belo]

It looks like my daughter has developed anorexia since going to Uni. We managed to persuade her to get an appointment with the Uni counselling services to talk about it, but she didn't go. She says she doesn't want to get better as it may mean she puts on weight. She's previously had CBT (for anxiety) and found that really helpful. She's also (drunkenly) spoken to one of her friends who has previously been treated for anorexia using CBT and said that it really helped her. She's now agreed that she will talk to somebody/try CBT again if I find somebody appropriate.

I was wondering if anybody has personal experience of CBT for an eating disorder? Or, have you had child who has? It would be great to hear your experience and if anybody has any personal recommendaiions I would love to hear them. We've tried going the NHS route, but there is an 8 month waiting list just to get onto the waiting list!! She is so painfully thin that we haven't got 8 months. She urgently needs help.

[petitemusician]

I know it's probably not what you want to hear but the only thing that helped me when anorexia got out of hand at university was dropping out. Left to my own devices it was just too easy to stay ill.

[Boulshired]

If she would, it’d be helpful if she spoke to the university medical centre to get regular observations. Anorexia can be very sly and agreeing to therapy and participating can be very different. At this point weight stability and then restoration is the most important thing. We made it clear to DD that we had no problem contacting university welfare if her weight decreased.

[Belo]

Thanks for the responses. Since I posted on Friday I found the Teen Eating Disorders support thread and I've spent time lurking on there. The situation my daughter is in is really scary for me, but it does sound like we've got it at an early stage so I'm hopeful CBT will be helpful for her. It helped her previously with OCD. She has also asked me to help her get help so I'm hoping that this means that she will be receptive.

[LBFseBrom]

I don't have much faith in CBT generally but I know some people have been helped by it for some issues.

Anorexia nervosa needs more than a quick fix. Please help your daughter find a suitably qualified specialist counsellor.

This must be very worrying for you so as well as helping your daughter, do look after yourself. Good luck.

[Rustnot]

CBT-ED is CBT specifically for eating disorders. I have had it for bulimia, but because of other MH problems the CBT alone wasn't very effective. I think it would have been if I was more stable. No recommendations unfortunately as all my treatment had been on the NHS, but I would say make sure you find a proper ED specialist- EDs are complicated and the CBT is different from standard CBT.