By December 2015, nearly 25 families had participated in NEW FED-TR, and more pilot groups are in the works. Feedback, Hill said, was uniformly positive, even from those with anorexia – pretty rare for a treatment programme that requires a person to face their deepest fears six times a day, eating three meals and three snacks. It is too soon to say whether the programme has been effective in helping adult anorexia sufferers move towards recovery, but for Heather it marks the first time she has actually believed in her own ability to get better.
Illustrations by Magnus Voll Mathiassen
This is an edited version of an article that appears on Mosaic. It is republished here under a Creative Commons licence
• Follow the Long Read on Twitter at @gdnlongread, or sign up to the long read weekly email here.