Personal recovery of young adults with severe anorexia nervosa during adolescence: a case series

• Published in: Eating and weight disorders Vol. 25; no. 4; pp. 867 - 878
• Main Authors: Piot, Marie-Aude, Gueguen, Juliette, Michelet, Daphné, Orri, Massimiliano, Köenig, Marie, Corcos, Maurice, Cadwallader, Jean-Sébastien, Godart, Nathalie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.08.2020; Springer Nature B.V; Springer Verlag
• Subjects: Adolescence; Anorexia; Child development; Clinical trials; Cognitive science; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Original Article; Psychiatry; Psychology; Recovery (Medical); Well being; Young adults; Qualitative research; Personal narratives; Anorexia nervosa; Recovery; Eating disorders
• DOI: 10.1007/s40519-019-00696-7
• ISSN: 1590-1262; 1124-4909

Purpose Despite the emergence of a growing qualitative literature about the personal recovery process in mental disorders, this topic remains little understood in anorexia nervosa (AN), especially severe AN during adolescence. This cases series is a first step that aims to understand recovery after severe AN among adolescents in France, from a first-person perspective. Methods This cases series applied the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) method to data collected in semi-structured face-to-face interviews about the recovery process of five young women who had been hospitalized with severe AN 10 years earlier during adolescence. Results A model of recovery in four stages (corseted, vulnerable, plastic, and playful) crossing seven dimensions (struggle and path of initiation; work on oneself; self-determination and help; body; family; connectedness; and timeline) emerged from the analysis. New features of the AN personal recovery process were characterized: bodily well-being and pleasure of body; stigmatization; the role of the group; relation to time; and importance of narratives. We suggest a new shape to model the AN recovery process, one that suggests several tipping points. Recruitment must now be widened to different AN contexts. Conclusions The personal recovery paradigm may provide a new approach to care, complementary to medical paradigm. Registration of clinical trial No. NCT03712384. Our study was purely observational, without assignment of medical intervention. As a consequence, this clinical trial was registered retrospectively. Level of evidence Level V, descriptive study.