The importance of relationships

A major theme in the interviews was about relationships, and how important they are. Good relationships can really help people when it comes to making decisions to accept treatment, and poor relationships can really hinder them.

Relationships with family and friends

When people talked about how they make decisions, it became clear that there is a range of preferred ways people make relationships. Most people need information, encouragement and support from those around them in order to make major decisions like accepting treatment to recover from anorexia nervosa. Additionally, some people also need others to help them make the decisions, rather than making the decisions themselves, as this might feel too much for them, particularly if they are struggling with whether they want to get well. So people who have anorexia nervosa feel very helped when those around them are people they can trust and rely on to provide the degree of support they need, recognising that their needs can change.

Relationships with healthcare professionals Many people talked about their relationships with their healthcare professionals and how this affected them. Healthcare professionals have a big impact on their people with anorexia nervosa. People with anorexia nervosa felt they needed to be seen as individuals and treated with respect. When professionals stereotyped patients according to their expectations of what people with anorexia nervosa are like, this felt very unhelpful. Try and get to know them, not treat them as a patient, treat them as a human being. Kind of don't sit there and dictate, sit there and ask. You know you don't, I hate it when I get, it's SO patronising, when you just get treated like you're anorexic, you're a minority, you're only under one label and it's like I'm NOT that, you know I'm ME , I'm a human. (Laughs) And it's quite horrible and demeaning sometimes. 13P   They need to understand that just because you're anorexic doesn't mean you're not a person. And I think obviously everyone does know that, but I think sometimes they don't always act as if they do, and they do need to sort of very actively treat you well the whole time. I think that's very important. I think that's probably the most important, more important than anything. 16P   People with anorexia nervosa also needed empathy from their healthcare professionals for just how hard accepting and going through treatment can be. When they felt understood and heard, patients felt very grateful to their healthcare professionals. It felt like he listened and wasn't there just because it was a job but because he wanted to be there… and every person I've spoken to who's seen him as well, said that he made them feel valued and worth it and that they were important […] he was just very gentle and understanding really. And it helps when you feel like somebody understands. 39P

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