Mirror, mirror on the wall : exploring the experiences of people suffering with eating disorders

• Main Author: Spivack, Anna
• Published: City University London 2010
• Subjects: 155; BF Psychology
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.520806

This thesis seeks to gain an insight into the subjective experiences of people with eating disorders on an inpatient unit. It explores the overall experience, as well as observing both challenging and helpful aspects of inpatient life and treatment. Eight female inpatients with eating disorders, aged twelve to seventeen, were interviewed. All participants were current inpatients at a specialist eating disorders clinic in a large city in England, and were nearing the end of their treatment. Participants' narratives of their experiences were analysed qualitatively, using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to identify common themes in the interviews. My hope in carrying out this research is that participants will have benefitted from the opportunity to discuss and reflect on their time on an inpatient unit, and that the research may enable them to process their experiences. I also hope to enable the staff of inpatient units and eating disorder professionals in general to become more aware of their patients' experiences of being on an eating disorder unit. Furthermore, it is my wish that participants' narratives may be used to identify a treatment method which takes into account their views of what are beneficial and what are unhelpful elements of their experiences.