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"Afraid of the day we'll have to go home": A special peek into the Department of Eating Disorders for Teens - Walla! news

2022-06-18T06:04:19.150Z


Experts in the ward at Safra Children's Hospital in Sheba point to an increase in the number of young patients of all genders, given the beauty images displayed on social media and the isolation imposed by the corona plague. A rare ward tour reveals boys, especially girls,


"Afraid of the Day We'll Have to Go Home": A Special Look at the Department of Eating Disorders for Teens

Experts in the ward at Safra Children's Hospital in Sheba point to an increase in the number of young patients of all genders, given the beauty images displayed on social media and the isolation imposed by the corona plague. A rare ward tour reveals boys, especially girls,

Meirav Cohen

09/06/2022

Thursday, 09 June 2022, 05:04 Updated: Saturday, 18 June 2022, 08:51

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Department of Eating Disorders.

Safra Children's Hospital in Tel Hashomer, June 7, 2022 (Photo: Niv Aharonson)

Pediatric ward C, the ward for dealing with eating disorders in children and adolescents at Safra Children's Hospital in Tel Hashomer, is entered through the main gate of the hospital - where a face mask must still be worn to protect against the corona.



When entering the ward it is mandatory to take off the mask, literally.

After the data showed an alarming increase in the number of adolescents with eating disorders, for the first time, the largest department for adolescents with eating disorders, which handles the most difficult cases from across the country, gives us a glimpse into the therapeutic process of boys and girls.

When entering, it is mandatory to remove the mask.

Safra Children's Hospital in Tel Hashomer (Photo: Niv Aharonson)

The plague core the unmet needs.

Dr. Yanai Giron Frank, Deputy Director of the Department (Photo: Niv Aharonson)

The ward is designed as a home with an intimate living room surrounded by teenage rooms, in order to give them as pleasant a feeling as possible.

On the other hand in the department there are clear boundaries and with a rather rigid agenda.

The goal - to get the girls and boys into the routine.

Every morning the bedding is taken off the beds and returned at night, and they must arrive in time for breakfast, there is school until noon, six supervised meals are distributed during the day and there are also some absolute prohibitions, including the use of social networks or wearing t-shirts.



The deputy director of the department, Dr. Yanai Giron-Frank, who guides us through the corridors of the department with a face that is unique only to those who understand the importance of his work, explained that "there are severe feelings of guilt among the girls, because on the one hand I become a parent Then I'll be the least successful because 'I'm fat. "



Dr. Yanai argues that eating disorder trends have been exacerbated recently due to two main factors - the corona plague crisis and the isolation and closure that followed, and the age of social media: That is so important in this period. " On the



other hand, or perhaps at the same time, the use of social networks has increased:" Youth have no feedback from people close to him, but from millions of unfamiliar people, who react as the post becomes more extreme, and suddenly become sick.

Suddenly when you feel bad you post that it exacerbates the disorder, instead of going to someone close and talking about it.

The pathology attracts the likes, and so the image should be exaggerated and extreme.

"Sometimes they upload a picture with the probe (feeding through a vein) because it attracts likes and we have to stop it."

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Between Frida Kahlo and Bilby

On the walls of the ward and between the series are pictures of a variety of powerful women, who will inspire among the patients in the ward, the vast majority of whom are girls.

One painting is by Bilby, the famous character from the books of Astrid Lingdren, who went through a difficult childhood and became a rebel in authority and mocks adults.

Or the renowned 20th-century painter Frida Kahlo, who suffered from a lifelong disability following the polio epidemic.



The ward houses 21 boys and girls aged 18-10.

The average length of hospital stay is five months.

They are overseen by about 60 staff members.

No one is hospitalized under duress or a court order, but with the cooperation of parents and adolescents, who manage to understand that there is a problem.

Here come the most extreme cases, including severe cases involving bone injuries and various traumas.

Disconnect them from their world at home and put it in another world in order to help them, although sometimes it also exacerbates the disorder.



The first stage of treatment is the stabilization of weight and nutrition within the ward.

The second stage is a return to the community, school and home.

The last stage is the day hospitalization, in which the girl returns to live in her home and comes to the ward every day.

Gradually the visits are diminished until the girl and the family can stand on their own, with the help of community caregivers.

"We must not forget that they are just cute and smart girls."

Department Director Dr. Adi Hanoch Levy (Photo: Niv Aharonson)

One of the most difficult but necessary therapeutic actions is a probe - feeding through a tube through the nose, and it occurs when the boy or girl loses weight and needs stabilization of the weight.

Absurdly, the Zonda is a source of attention and the disorder makes them want to reach this stage because only then are they considered really sick and thin.

Patients are supervised for two hours after the meal, when there are six meals a day.

The staff accompanies them to the development of the toilet, where they have to count out loud, thus checking that they are not vomiting.



The director of the department, Dr. Adi Hanoch Levy - a child psychiatrist by training, explains the paradox: "And there is a lot of work here on repair and many opportunities to change and repair - the very fact that she comes here is work on her refusal."

Feelings of parental failure are mixed with relief.

Children's Department C (Photo: Niv Aharonson)

"We must not forget that they are just girls, cute and smart," Adi emphasizes.

"I felt like I was losing control"

M.'s father, 16, who has been hospitalized in the ward for 5 months, tells us about the experience of dealing with his daughter in the ward as a parent: In middle school and these ages were completely forgotten during this period. It met her in a bad place of anxiety and confusion. "At first we treated it with disapproval but slowly it became compulsive until the meals were completely reduced."



"We went to a nutritionist and a psychologist and so we witnessed the injury, and that actually caused the extremes, because it is no longer hidden and on the table. Gradually it caused more isolation and anger disorders. Then we put her in a day hospital and it also caused more aggravation because it became a status symbol - no "It's enough that I'm sick, but sicker than others. They started competing over who is sicker."



"I felt like I was losing control and losing my daughter. It's an unimaginable frustration, in the first days you're angry you made a mistake you put her in treatment, those are very severe intensities. It caused a lot of tension at home, and she could not believe why we as parents put it in the pot. "



After all these bumps, M. came to be hospitalized in the designated ward at Safra.

"The first night she stayed here and we came home there were mixed feelings of parental failure on the one hand and relief on the other. I was very ambivalent among myself if this was the place she should be, but in front of her it was very clear that this was the place she was staying.

"Stressful to think about the day you come home" (Photo: Niv Aharonson)

"The first weeks were very difficult, with heartbreaking cries and she yells at us - 'Let's take me out of here and I'll eat everything.' It's good for her here. "

"The goal is not to come back here"

M. is about to finish her treatment in the ward, and she already knows how to eat and talk, but she must still not be told that she is healthy: "It stresses me to think about the day she will return home, because we will have to keep an eye on her. , Asks her father in pain who is intent on saving his daughter.



"The hardest part was that I was not allowed to say she looked good, because it was hard and maybe take her back, because she did not want to feel good, and she wanted to keep being sick. The basic thing - to tell your girl that she looked good - was taken from me. On the other hand, she "She always knew we loved her, and she loves us back. The place we love her and do not give up on her - it's a difficult process for parents but it's what kept us and her in the process."



After the meeting with her father, we met M. herself.

A beautiful and incredibly smart girl, but the conversation with her was not easy: "I had very difficult days before I came here, I had food obsessions and ceremonies without which I would have felt really headaches. I remember my menstrual cycle stopped and I was good because I felt really thin and also my body Mine says that. "



At this point she makes a statement that makes me move uncomfortably: "I feel like I'm the easy case here and it makes me feel bad because I'm not even good at being sick."

I look painfully at Dr. Yanai, who has been with us throughout the conversation, and try to find words to continue from here.



M. takes the reins and continues: "A month ago I was suspended from the ward because I was told I was not progressing. Today I have already reached my weight goals and I will be released in a few days."

Today M. understands that the suspension caused her to wake up and use the treatment again and move towards recovery.

"What are your goals outside the department"?

I'm asking.

"The goal is not to come back here," she replies, "that's what I know right now."

"If I went up and if I went down - it's hard"

Another girl we met is Y., 15 years old. Y. is cheerful and cordial and in conversation with her I felt like I was talking to an adult woman: “My disorder started when we moved to the US when I was little.

At the age of 10 I started with a friend on a diet.

She stopped, and I continued to vomit.

When we returned to Israel it got worse and I stopped eating.

One time my dad told me that if I did not eat he would take me to the hospital and then I started eating in binges, so they would not see that I was not eating.

That's how I got into a fasting routine - 5 days not to eat at all, and two days to eat until everything hurts.

I even ate frozen things. "



Y. says that she was later taken to a dietitian, but my condition worsened because I had to gain weight for her and I felt severe guilt and did not know what to do.

I had a suicide attempt and got to a hospital, where I told the staff I had a problem.

Until then no one knew about my routines.

At first the parents were angry with me and said I was destroying the house.

I think now they understand my problem better.

I want to stop vomiting, but it's hard because once I do not vomit I disgust myself, so I have to vomit and sometimes it's just about automatic. "

"There are no differences between boys and girls" (Photo: Niv Aharonson)

Y. explains that the most difficult days for her are Mondays, which are considered.

According to the weighing, decisions are made about them.

If they gained weight, they would win the exit home.

To the extent that they may not connect to the Zonda.

"This is a day where there is a lot of shouting and anger among everyone. On the one hand I have to gain weight, mainly to get things done, but I do not want to. I feel that there is no way to get out of this day in a good way, this is the day that the disorder is most present in me. "

Get to food from a healthy and good place

S., 18, has been hospitalized in the ward for four and a half months.

He is one of the only two boys in the ward.

He is shy and introverted but gives the feeling that "quiet water penetrates deep".

"In the ward there is no difference between us and the girls," he says.

"We have the same agenda, but I think the biggest difficulty for me is dealing with the stigma that it is a 'girls' disease.'



" My disorder started from a very young age and increased in adolescence, I tried to go through changes and treatments, but it did not help me.

I wandered between departments until I got here.

The department has taken away my independence, which is so important to me, and there are things I am not allowed to do here.

I feel threatened by the staff's decisions about me, even if I know they are in my favor. "



S. wants to be a baker when he grows up, but in the department, activity to realize this aspiration is not allowed. Good for me,



I left the ward with mixed feelings.

On the one hand, they try to control the mental disorder that is considered the most active, because the patient eats or does not eat, vomits or does not actively vomit, and from the outside it can look like a kind of play or show.

On the other hand, the understanding of the depth of the disorder and the fact that patients have almost no control over it is gradually penetrating.

To succeed in making them live by her side - this is the sacred work that saves souls from themselves.

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