We use a recovery model as our treatment paradigm and I believe in relapses. I believe relapse occurs with addictions, but I believe they are detours. I believe everyone who has an eating disorder will have a relapse and a relapse is a detour from there forward movements and that's a part of the recovery. There will be relapses; it's not a straight forward linear process, something may be provoking them. They may feel stuck, they may revert to an old attempt to cope, and that's a part of an eating disorder. It serves that attempt to cope and when they do leave, they claim that as part of the recovery process rather than a failure. Multiple treatments are not uncommon for those with eating disorders. A singular treatment is probably more atypical. It's a journey and people will join us some time as part of their journey. They may go to another treatment center for another leg of their journey or they may come back to us. It's not uncommon for people to return to us a year or sometimes two years later. They will tell us they are not stuck, and nowhere where they were, but struggling. I think if they came in they will call it a tune up, and they can afford a tune up to get back on track. They just need some intense focus. They come back again and what we notice is that the intensity, frequency and the duration is much less than what it was initially. So I think lapses are a part of the process of healing. I know that about half of those who have eating disorders often give their lives. It is a negative consequence. I do believe that people can recover. I think one of the greatest hindrances is the ability to afford treatment for the length of time it takes to recover. Treatment is costly and it is ongoing and many insurance companies do not cover treatment. Many people do not have the personal finances to afford it. So I think that's a huge hindrance to recovery.
