Member-only story
Exposing For-Profit Anorexia Treatment: My Story
Eating disorders kill. For-profit treatment centers don’t care. They let people die. They allow trauma to occur. Why, you might ask? One word: money. TW: eating disorders, self-harm, abuse
For the past three years, I have been in and out of different for-profit treatment centers and hospitals for anorexia, a battle I have been fighting since I was a teenager. Anorexia is a brutal and debilitating illness that is most often misunderstood. No one chooses to have an eating disorder, and eating disorders affect people of all genders, races, sexualities, ethnicities, and body types. I entered residential treatment for the very first time summer of 2020. I did not know what I was getting myself into. This first place was one of many painful and traumatizing stays.
When I arrived at that particular residential, I was surprised by how many patients there had been in treatment before. I went into residential not knowing that much about ED treatment since I had only received outpatient and intensive outpatient previously. Almost everyone I met there had prior treatment stays, some quite lengthy. This concerned me, as the program gushed about their successes. I quickly grew to realize why so many people cannot escape the…
