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Dr Diana Cassell 2015-04-03 Person 1 5 0

Unfortunately, Dr Diana Cassell was extremely unprofessional when she treated me for Anorexia Nervosa. Despite only meeting with her twice throughout my treatment at CAMHS, both times I came out feeling appalled and confused by the way I had been treated and made to feel. She abused her position of authority and used my mental state to belittle and patronise me, often dismissing anything I said and not opening up to discussion 'because I was not in a right state of mind.' I am fully aware that people can become manipulative and deceitful when suffering from anorexia, however, no matter how ill I was, I was always polite and rational when dealing with professionals. My points were very valid and I am sure of that now as a recovered anorexic. Therefore, I feel a constructive point would be that Diana Cassell should learn the skill of listening and treating each patient as an individual. Moreover, her stature and abrupt manner perpetuated this feeling of insignificance in her presence. She should perhaps try to act slightly more softer and caring especially considering she is working with emotionally vulnerable people. Finally, I still remember one thing she said that still particularly stands out to me now as it did when I was sitting in a chair opposite her three years ago. At this point in my anorexia, I was critically underweight and was about to be admitted to inpatient. Although my food consumption was absolutely minimal, I still drank (probably far too much) water, to which, Dr Diana Cassell said, 'most people would stop drinking by now, I am surprised you're still drinking.' Anyone who has any experience with eating disorders knows how competitive they can be. Luckily, as I am (as I mentioned before) a rational person, I was unaffected by the comment as I now believe those litres of water were the only things keeping me alive (and not becoming dehydrated.) It shocks me that someone who supposedly is a professional in the field of eating disorders would say something so insensitive. I truly hope for the sake of sufferers now that Diana Cassell has become more tactful with her approach to dealing with eating disorders.