After a few days, when Naomi’s condition was no longer critical, she decided to go home. However, the hospital responded by placing her on a 72-hour mental-health hold. Clinicians obtained a short-term certification from the Colorado court, which required Naomi to be detained and treated until she reached 80 percent of her “ideal body weight” as determined by physicians. In Colorado, a patient can be treated against her will if she is mentally ill and unable to make informed decisions. On that day, Naomi was transferred to a residential program at Denver’s Eating Recovery Center (E.R.C.).
In another video message, Naomi expressed her anger and feeling of being disrespected. She felt that her mind was diminished, but she found that she could still think clearly and reason. She had been in and out of hospitals, psychiatric wards, and eating-disorder programs multiple times, and now she felt that trying the same treatment again would be futile.
As a teenager, Naomi believed that treatment programs might save her. She shared her origin stories during group-therapy sessions, about how she stopped eating and her reasons for it. However, as the years passed, she found it harder to comply with standard treatment, refusing to participate in group sessions and disengaging during therapy sessions. She also began bingeing and purging.
Between treatment programs and hospitalizations, Naomi went to college but struggled with her studies. She later found jobs that she cared about, but they were often interrupted by medical admissions.
