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Companion Guide for A Season in Hell

It is very possible that seeing A Season in Hell will motivate some viewers to want to get advice about their own problems or those of a friend or family member. In the guidelines below the person showing the film and remaining available for consultation is referred to as "you" or "the person in authority." This awkwardness derives from the fact that the person showing the film will not in every instance be a teacher addressing students.

(1) You should meet with the person or friends in a place where they can be assured that the conversation is private and confidential.

(2) You should not promise to keep the conversation a secret. Be discrete, but leave open possibility that information may come to light which mandates responsible actions. In this regard you should ascertain whether the situation warrants immediate medical attention, i.e., whether the person is sick and/or out of control. If so, action must be taken.

(3) Throughout the conversation you should communicate care, concern, and a desire to talk about problems. Your responsibility is not accurate diagnosis or psychotherapy; it is the development of a compassionate and forthright conversation that ultimately helps the person or friends solve their problems.

(4) You should encourage friends to take the initiative in assertively&emdash;not passively or aggressively&emdash;telling the person suspected of an eating disorder that they care about the person and are worried about how she has been feeling and behaving.

(5) Throughout the process of detection, referral, and recovery, the person in authority and friends should keep the focus on the IMAD criteria (see p. 4), not on the signs and symptoms of eating disorders. Once again, the focus is not accurate labeling but rather helping a person in trouble find support and proper services.

(6) If the information which you or friends receive strongly suggest the presence of anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, it is best to communicate to the person (a) the tentative sense that she or he might have an eating disorder; and (b) the conviction that the matter clearly needs to be evaluated professional.

(7) Neither you nor the friends should become the person's therapist or "savior." People who want to help should be empathic and otherwise supportive (e.g., they could volunteer to investigate community resources for treatment), but they should not "cover" for the person or become "the only one she can talk with about the problem."

(8) Friends and people in authority should be reminded that they have rights, too. No one benefits if concerned others allow themselves to be manipulated by the eating disordered person or if they allow their lives to be disrupted by threats, argument, and emotional outbursts.

(9) You and the friends should become knowledgeable about community resources to which eating disordered person and their families can be referred. Teachers should also know the school policy for making referrals, contacting parents, etc.

(10) Friends and people with an eating disorder should be told that, since these situations are quite complex, your suggestions are to be regarded as tentative hypotheses. This encourages mature decision-making and leaves the door open for further contacts and further collaboration.

(11) Without violating confidences, you should consult with other people as to your handling of the situation. The feedback will yield perspective and help you improve as an "advisor."