Help Your Teenager Beat an Eating Disorder

but adolescent-focused therapy (AFT) has been shown to be effective in treating anorexia in adolescents (see Chapter 6). We’ll use it in our example of how you can be involved in individual psychodynamic psychotherapy. AFT grew out of ideas derived from a type of psychodynamic theory called self psychology. AFT is a psychodynamic therapy that tries

According to this therapeutic approach, anorexia is a self-destructive attempt to manage problems with emotional immaturity, fear, anxiety, and depression by restrictive dieting and weight loss.

You may find that you need to help get your adolescent back on track by encouraging him more actively than you might have expected to. You may sometimes even have to take the lead in arranging visits with friends and encouraging attendance at school functions. Many children with eating disorders have some degree of social anxiety. This may have to

As it pertains to anorexia, the theory suggests that children with this disorder have difficulty with feeling assertive and independent and, as a result, confuse control over eating and weight with other psychological and emotional needs related to independence and confidence.

We have stressed repeatedly that eating disorders distort thinking and behavior to such a degree that, as a parent, you are your child’s

Clearly, the main argument of this book is that parents need to actively take charge of helping their children with eating disorders.

best hope for making significant progress.

To find alternatives to the self-destructive strategies associated with severe dieting, patients must first learn to identify and define their emotions, both positive and negative, rather than avoid awareness of these feelings through starvation.

Still, by encouraging these activities, you will be able to help your child see you as controlling only her eating behaviors and not interfering as much with other age-appropriate activities.