The ethics of treating anorexia
20 November 2006
The recent news of a 21-year-old Brazilian fashion model who lived on a diet of apples and tomatoes, and died of kidney failure, is a harsh reminder of the severity of anorexia in today's society.
A new project supported by the UK's largest independent medical charity, the Wellcome Trust, will for the first time examine the particular problems faced by mental health professionals making decisions about whether to use compulsory treatment for sufferers of anorexia.
Over the next two weeks, workshops will take place in London, Edinburgh and Liverpool for people with anorexia and their carers to explore these issues.
Anorexia nervosa is a mental disorder; those with anorexia deliberately lose weight and can place themselves at serious physical risks. Pressures on young people constantly confronted with media images of the body beautiful have contributed to the prevalence of this condition in the contemporary world.
Approximately 1-2 per cent of the young female population have this condition, which typically develops in adolescence or early adulthood. It strikes a disproportionate number of females, with nine females to every male with the disorder. A great deal of controversy and debate surrounds its treatment.
Patients with anorexia frequently refuse treatment, or have difficulty cooperating with treatment, even although they have a good understanding of the risks involved. This creates serious and practical ethical dilemmas for their families and professionals who are treating them, who struggle to engage the patients in the decisions around their treatment, and have to make difficult decisions about whether or not they should be treated against their will.
Lead researcher Dr Jacinta Tan, from the Ethox Centre (The Oxford Centre for Ethics and Communications in Healthcare Practice) at the University of Oxford comments:
"My research focuses on the difficulties that young female anorexia nervosa patients say they experience in making decisions about their treatment.
"The issue of the ethics of treatment of young patients who refuse is a real and pressing one, and is timely now the Mental Capacity Act is coming into force in April 2007. I have done this research because there is an absence of any previous in-depth research to inform debates in this area.
"I have conducted two research studies involving in-depth interviews with both adolescent and young-adult female patients with anorexia nervosa and their parents, and am keen to fine tune my results by presenting them to the patients themselves and their carers and obtaining feedback. Over the next few weeks I will be holding workshops in London, Edinburgh and Liverpool for those with anorexia, their carers and the mental health professionals who treat them. I am looking for volunteers, particular patients and carers, to be involved in these workshops."
Notes to editors
Media enquiries
Mike Findlay, Wellcome Trust Media Office
T +44 (0)20 7611 8612
E
m.findlay@wellcome.ac.uk
Would you like to spend half a day hearing what researchers have learned about how people with anorexia nervosa make decisions, and the sorts of difficulties they experience? Would you like to think about the ethical issues involved in compulsory treatment for anorexia? Would you like to be involved in discussing the results with researchers and help them fine tune them? The workshops will take place on:
- Monday 27 November 2006, BMA House, London - 12.00-17.00
- Friday 1 December 2006, BMA Scotland, Edinburgh - 12.00-17.00
- Monday 11 December 2006, University of Liverpool – 12.00-17.00
The workshops are fully funded by the Wellcome Trust and therefore free for participants. Prior registration is required to gain entry. To obtain more details and register, call 01865 287887 or email Dr Tan: jacinta.tan@ethox.ox.ac.uk.
The Wellcome Trust is the most diverse biomedical research charity in the world, spending about £450 million every year both in the UK and internationally to support and promote research that will improve the health of humans and animals. The Trust was established under the will of Sir Henry Wellcome, and is funded from a private endowment, which is managed with long-term stability and growth in mind.