End of the day

Waif is growing up fast.  She is now nearly 15 and I am beginning to feel that I am treading on the toes of her right to privacy by writing this blog.  When she was 12, and so very very ill, the blog, with its supportive and insightful commenters, was a lifeline for me.  Now Waif is so much better and older, even though she is not yet discharged  from the Maudsley Hospital nor up to her ideal weight, I feel less need of support and more guilt about sharing her life events.  If I write but hide things that would embarrass Waif then it will no longer be an honest account.  So I want to say a big thank you to all and bow out.

Incidentally, the BEAT training course was very interesting. I learned that the thrust of a self help group is that it is not there for advice but just as a forum.  I personally was not convinced that they had any evidence that self help groups actually DID help, and have grave reservations about those aimed at sufferers as it seems to me that they could be counter productive.  Those aimed at carers might be more helpful although I am lucky to have had very supportive friends who have listened to me rant on, and in one case, helped direct me to the correct source of advice (thank you!).  BEAT is very very well intentioned but the trainer seemed taken aback when I asked about evidence for effectiveness of self help groups and said that they had never looked into it.  I still want to do something to help, but am carefully considering what and how to do that.  It might be that my money is more valuable than my time, even if it would feel more sterile to simply support treatments and research financially.  I am certain that this whole area is under resourced and under researched and am so grateful that we had access to the very best facilities in the world, at no cost whatsoever.  I send my best wishes to all sufferers and carers out there and hope that you too will find a way through and escape this pernicious mental illness without long term ill effects.  I hope one day there will be more answers.