GUESTBOOK The Shone Family made the witch cupcake after reading our Halloween spread “Preteen Halloween: What a Scream!� in the October 2012 issue. For instructions and recipes, pick up a copy or view it online at baystateparent.com.
LOVE the article! Thank you. And, unbelievably, the picture you chose to run with the story is my adorable nephew. THANK YOU!!!! THANK YOU!!!! THANK YOU!!!! Merritt L. Friedman Owner, From the Pumpkin Patch Editor’s Note: From the Pumpkin Patch was featured in the October issue and is a nonprofit company that collects new and gently used costumes and donates them to families who can’t afford costumes. To donate costumes, visit fromthepumpkinpatch.org. It was with great interest that I read the September article “Battle of Imaginary Bulge.� My child was treated successfully
using some of the local clinical resources your article quotes. There is exciting news in eating disorder treatments! Recent research into a particular kind of family therapy approach shows remarkable promise: family based treatment or “The Maudsley Approach.� As one of the leaders in the field was quoted saying in October 2010, this approach: “should be the gold standard or first-line outpatient treatment for medically stable teens.� In a field where there is very little data on what works, this research offers both optimism and strong results. The evidence has been mounting for decades, but the most recent studies confirm what has been a growing interest in this
approach. Despite lingering skepticism in the field for this departure from usual treatment, a 2008 paper published in the Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology said, “At this time, the evidence base is strongest for the Maudsley model of family therapy for anorexia nervosa.â€? The authors of another 2008 article describe published research on family-based interventions showing “at a 4-5 year followup, the majority (60-90 percent) will have fully recovered while only 10-15 percent will still be seriously ill‌â€? Put simply, the Maudsley Approach sees the parents of the ill person as the best ally for recovery. In this evidence-based approach, parents are seen as the most committed and competent people in the patient’s life and are therefore best qualified to find ways to fight the illness, to regain healthy weight and end unhealthy behaviors. Without question, the Family-Based Maudsley Treatment approach represents a very different way of looking at eating disorders and treatment from traditional approaches. Some in the eating disorders community are shocked and even offended by the emphasis on nutrition and behaviors instead of insight and motivation. Still others remain skeptical of the role of parents in the treatment. Yet the results are clear: there is no other scientifically-validated treatment approach for adolescents with anorexia living at home who have been ill fewer than three years. An anonymous parent (of a patient successfully treated and recovered from eating disorder using Family-Based Treatment)*
*Editor’s Note: Submitted letters to the editor should include your name, email address, phone and town. We agreed to publish this letter anonymously to protect the family and the patient. Please email letters to editor@baystateparent.com.
WINNERS: Baystate giveaways are announced at baystateparent.com under “Giveaways� as well as on our Facebook page. We’ve made it easy and quick to enter to win a prize! Some of our recent prizes and winners include:
Day Out with Thomas at Edaville Giveaway The DeCell Family of Auburn The Walsh Family of Andover The Lourenco Family of Worcester The Kenney Family of Leicester The Stevens Family of Worcester Special thanks to Edaville (www.edaville. com) for donating five family four-packs of tickets to giveaway. Participants had to submit a letter describing how they keep their children entertained while traveling. Parents suggested holding off on drinks and snacks for the first half of the trip (to save on bathroom stops), packing new toys and revealing them throughout the trip, making videos of the kids narrating the trip and then sharing it with family and friends and making frequent and fun stops at parks and landmarks along the way. Check www.baystateparent.com for more giveaways.
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