Searching for Better Treatment for Eating Disorders

In 2017, Hennie Thomson checked herself into a hospital for six weeks of in-patient treatment for anorexia nervosa. She was compulsively over-exercising — running, spinning or cross-training three to four hours daily. She ate only one meal each day of the same four foods. And she felt she had hit the bottom of a deep depression. 

In the hospital, she would be observed around the clock and her meals would be communal and strictly monitored by health-care staff. She could do no exercise, and would even have an escort to the bathroom. 

“It was very overwhelming; I hated losing control and I cried for the first couple of weeks,” recalls Thomson, 27, who works as a portfolio manager in scientific publishing in Oxford, UK. “But I knew I needed it if I was going to ever feel better and recover.”