Participants found it difficult to trust adolescents with
anorexia and if they did give them their trust, they felt that
‘they just go back on that’, so they chose not to trust them at
all. The formation of a therapeutic relationship was limited
by participants’ suspicion (Morse 1991). They were stressed
and burnt-out from dealing with manipulation, and unfortunately
stress leads to the ‘unequal distribution of care and
attention to other patients on the ward’ (May 1991, p. 555).
Lilly explained: ‘…I’m not as keen as I might have been to
look after them…I’m more likely now to request not to…’.
The preconceived idea that adolescents with anorexia were
Issues and innovations in nursing practice Caring for adolescents with anorexia nervosa
2004