Conclusion
Treating adolescents with anorexia in acute wards with
behaviour modification programmes clearly creates difficulties
for nurses and is not conducive to the establishment of
therapeutic relationships. With the implementation of the
recommendations above, a more therapeutically conducive
treatment programme could be formulated and put into
practice. However, changes would be required in the way the
hospital, as an institution, currently runs.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Dr Catherine Garrett for her invaluable
assistance and the JAN reviewers for their insightful comments.