A girl in recovery from anorexia says that her private school refused to let her back after her hospitalisation because they were afraid her presence would encourage other girls to become anorexic.
Lottie Twiselton was 14 when she developed severe anorexia. Her condition deteriorated to the point that she was admitted to hospital where she received treatment for a year. Though recovery is a slow process, she tried to return to lessons at Northampton High School for Girls, but alleges she was barred. ‘Nobody can understand how important the return to school is when you’re in recover,’ she told *The Times. *‘My illness got worse and the school need to realise that it very nearly killed me.’
Her mum Claire, who is a nurse, told how she took Lottie back to school while she still had her nasal tube in place. ‘The head teacher – Sarah Dixon – was visibly shocked and quickly ushered her into a room away from other girls,' she continued. ‘Without a doubt one of the main reasons Lottie was not allowed back to school was because she was someone who lots of people looked up to. In the head teacher’s eyes, she may well have inspired copycat disorders.’
Psychologists agree that being back in a normal school environment is important to young sufferers of eating disorders. 'There has to be a focus on something other than eating,' said Janet Walsh, a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Priory Hospital. 'If they are left isolated at home for too long it feeds into their obsession.'
A spokesperson for Beat, an eating disorder charity told The Debrief: 'It may be that schools exclude students or think that it will spark copy cat behaviour not understanding about the risk factors and what causes an eating disorder.'
However, the school has released a statement to deny that Lottie was ever barred from returning to study there. 'To say that Lottie was excluded is simply not true, as is the assertion that we were concerned about copycat issues,’ it reads. They say instead that they simply encouraged her to wait until she was ready to return full-time, rather half-way through Lottie’s treatment.
'The parents wrote to ask whether Lottie could rejoin the school in January on a part-time basis on those days of the week when she was not at the hospital which was treating her. The school responded to say that they were very keen to support Lottie’s integration but remained of the view that it would be preferable to wait until Lottie was well enough to return on a full-time basis.’
Lottie is now studying at another private school nearby.
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Picture: The Times / News Syndication
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.