In focus: Mental health

34 October 2012

Reducing the mortality rate from eating disorders 34 October 2012

THE HOBART Clinic has recently launched Tasmania’s first day treatment program for young adults with eating disorders that focuses on

reducing the illness’ high mortality rate through assessment and early intervention.

The Assessment and Early Intervention Day Program (AEIDP), which has now been running for six months, strives to achieve early remission and prevent patients from relapsing by specifically treating those in the early stages of Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa as well as Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS).

While there are currently comprehensive treatments available for adolescents suffering with eating disorders in Tasmania, The Hobart Clinic’s new program is proving vital to the local community in helping adult sufferers, who previously had to travel interstate for treatment.

The program has been developed by Dr Julian Davis, psychiatrist at The Hobart Clinic and coordinator of the AEIDP, who said it aims to achieve better patient outcomes by treating the psychological and lifestyle factors associated with eating disorders as well as the physical side effects.

“Eating disorders have a mortality rate of 20 percent which is higher than any other mental illness,” Dr Davis said. “However it is also one of the few conditions that can have a better prognosis if diagnosed early. That’s why we felt it important to introduce a program that focused on early detection and on getting to sufferers before their illness becomes all consuming.”

Using a combination of individual and group psychotherapy as well as exercise and relaxation therapy, Dr Davis along with psychologist Kate Savage, have for the past six months been working to get patients on the path to recovery before their eating

disorder becomes chronic or life threatening. “While the high mortality rate for eating

disorders is due to physical complications such as cardiac arrest, it is also a result of psychological factors like suicide,” Dr Davis said. “We therefore use a combined treatment approach that focuses on both addressing the physical components of the illness and on a patient’s mental state and the emotional triggers that have led to the illness.”

Patients of the AEIDP are weighed upon their arrival in the morning before taking part in the program’s group therapy sessions where they are taught how to manage issues

such as binge eating, body image and eating socially. They then have individual consultations with Dr Davis and Ms Savage as well as a dietician when psychological factors are assessed and they are taught skills to manage the emotional side effects that are often associated with their illness, such as anxiety and depression.

Patients are referred to The Hobart Clinic’s Assessment and Early Intervention Day Program by their GP and attend the clinic two days a week. The length of stay is determined by the patient and the program’s key coordinators.

EATING DISORDERS HAVE A MORTALITY RATE OF 20 PERCENT

WHICH IS HIGHER THAN ANY OTHER MENTAL ILLNESS

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October 2012 35

The Hobart Clinic has launched a new early intervention program for young adults with eating disorders