Abstract
The author reports here on group therapy for the mothers of eating disorders patients, which has become extremely significant since it was incorporated into the overall treatment of such disorders in February 1991. 109 cases (73 patients) were hospitalized and treated in this manner at the Second Tokyo National Hospital over the past five years (from 1988) , accounting for 140/0 of the total psychiatric patients in a 26-bed ward. Group therapy for the mothers is run once a month for 90 minutes. As the treatment does not involve a set number of sessions, the mothers of new patients just join the pre-existing group. The mean number of participants has been 7. 3 per session although the optimal number would be 10. Besides a psychiatrist, the staff includes highly experienced professionals from various fields : 2 psychotherapists, 2 nurses, as well as pediatricians and psychiatric residents who joined the group later. The topics cover all the problems involved, in eating disorders. First discussed were symptom-related problems, but this gradually gave way to more psychological issues as the number of sessions increased and recently the group psychotherapeutic character has become stronger. This attempt has provided the mothers with : 1) catharsis ; 2) knowledge and understanding of eating disorders : what other mothers have experienced has a big impact and helps mothers realize that it is not that simple, that it will take time and patience ; 3) a lesser degree of anxiety : as the mother's attitude stabilizes, the atmosphere at home becomes more relaxed, which favorably influences the patient ; 4) personal insights as well as insights into the mother/child relationship or the intrafamilial dynamics. The unity and nature of the staff, their eagerness, their knowledge and understanding of eating disorders, are all important to the success of group therapy. This attempt has proven more efficient and more effective than individual family therapy. It is also excellent training for the staff, significantly raising the quality of the therapeutic team. As far as the author knows, there are presently 10_facilities in Japan that provided group therapy for mothers of eating disorder patients. These can be divided into two types : 1) not only educational but also psychotherapeutic groups, and 2) self-help groups, or educational groups. The former, psychotherapeutic groups of 10 or so members, are run by psychiatrists or psychotherapists, whereas the latter are run in internal medicine or psychosomatic medicine units and are much bigger groups. The needs for such groups is very great and we hope that more facilities will see the importance of this endeavor.
