ABSTRACT
Eating disorders are very difficult illnesses to treat. Eating disorders become even more challenging when a society believes that they do not exist in its population and when the society is ill equipped to provide care for persons diagnosed with the illness, leaving them and their family members to suffer in silence. Further, when this society has a matrifocal system, the onus of caring for the emotional and psychological needs of a daughter is often left to the mother, as fathers are often not expected to be involved. Such is the case for a Jamaican female, Margaret, who has been a long-standing sufferer of anorexia nervosa. Over a 10-year period, Margaret had unsuccessfully sought treatment in North America. Despite a feeling of futility from these previous attempts, Margaret and her parents resorted to working with a local team of a physician and psychologist, who, after being trained in treating eating disorders, recently returned to the island. Over the duration of 15 months of working with the team and her parents, Margaret started to show signs of successful recovery. While not negating her mother’s active involvement in sustaining her daughter’s life throughout the course of her illness, a pivotal point in Margaret’s recovery was when her father became actively involved in her treatment. The findings of this case are instructive for several reasons, as they (1) dispel the notion that eating disorders only exist in First World countries; (2) highlight the devastating psychological and physical effects of the illness irrespective of ethnicity or country of origin; (3) highlight innovative ways of treating the illness within the context of a developing country; and (4) both acknowledge the role of the mothers and recognize that fathers are equally important in the recovery process.
